
> 




4 UP THE COUNTRY ' 

f rtttxs toritteu to Ijcr Sister 

FROM 

THE UPPER PROVINCES OF INDIA 

EY THE 

HON. EMILY EDEN 

AUTHORESS OF 

* THE SEMI-DETACHED HOUSE ' AXD ' THE SEMI- ATTACHED COUPLE ' 

NEW EDITION 




LONDON 

RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET 

PUBLISHER IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY 

1867 



.0 .ft - 



LONDON 

PRINTED BY SPOTTISAVOODE A>'D CO. 
JfETY-STBEET SQUARE 



WITHDRAWN 

MAY 9 19,19 



PTJf EfO LI -i 



C. 

TOAft 3 1004 



TO THE 




7 



LORD WILLIAM GODOLPHIN OSBOENE. 



My dear William, 

I know no one but yourself who can now take any 
lively interest in these Letters. 

She to whom they were addressed, they of whom they 
were written, have all passed away, and you and I are now 
almost the only survivors of the large party that in 1838 left 
Government House for the Upper Provinces. 

Many passages of this Diary, written solely for the amuse- 
ment of my own family, have of course been omitted ; but 
not a word has been added to descriptions which have little 
merit, but that they are true and that they were written on 
the spot. 

Now that India has fallen under the curse of railroads, and 
that life and property will soon become as insecure there as 
they are here, the splendour of a Governor- General's progress 
is at an end. 

The Kootub will probably become a Eailway Station ; the 
Taj will, of course, under the sway of an Agra Company 
(Limited, except for destruction), be bought up for a monster 



VI 



DEDICATION. 



hotel ; and the Governor-General will dwindle down into a 
first-class passenger with a carpet-bag. These details, there- 
fore, of a journey that was picturesque in its motley pro- 
cessions, in its splendid crowds, and in its ' barbaric gold and 
pearl,' may be thought amusing. So many changes have since 
taken place in Indian modes of travelling, that these contrasts 
of public grandeur and private discomfort will probably be 
seen no more, on a scale of such magnitude. 

Believe me, 

Ever your affectionate Aunt, 

EMILY EDEN. 

Eden* Lodge, Keksington Gobe . 
May, 1866. 



' UP THE COUNTRY.' 



CHAPTEE I. 

On board the ' Megna' flat, Saturday, Oct, 21, 1837. 
6 Once more upon the waters, yet once more/ and so 
on. We are now fairly off for eighteen months of 
travelling by steamers, tents, and mountains — and 
every day of a cabin seems to me like so much waste. 
They ought all to go to the great account of the long 
voyage that will, at last, take us home again. And 
this cabin looks so like my e Jupiter ' abode, in all its 
fittings and appointments, that it is really a pity so to 
throw its discomforts away in going farther off. Well, 
I am sure it is all for the best — I make no objection — - 
I like to see things take their course ; but still I do 
say, that for a person who required nothing but to be 
allowed the undisturbed enjoyment of that small Green- 
wich house and garden, with all its little Cockney 
pleasures and pursuits, I have been very hardly treated 
and rather overworked. We got up at five this morn- 
ing ; the servants were all in a fuss, and Wright was 
in all the delusions of carpet-bags and nice bandboxes, 
in which she may be indulged till we leave the steamer, 
and then she will be obliged to wake from them, as 

B 



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the coolie is yet to be discovered who would carry a 
carpet-bag, and a bandbox does not precisely meet the 
views of a camel. 

When we came down for some coffee, the great hall 
was full of gentlemen who had come to accompany his 
lordship to the ghaut — even Mr. Macaulay had turned 
out for it. F. and I, with Captain P., soon took our- 
selves off, and drove down to the landing-place. There 
were two lines of troops from the door of Government 
House to the river, and the band was playing that 
march in the ( Puritani' which, when we were at the 
Admiralty, used to be played every morning by the 
Guards' band, and which, consequently, always carries 
me back to the horrid time of our preparations for 
leaving England, so I can always cry it all over again 
to that tune. The road was covered with carriages 
and riders ; and, at the ghaut, a large set of our par- 
ticular acquaintances were waiting for us, so we got 
out and stood with them while G. made his progress on 
foot. It was really a very pretty procession : such 
crowds of people and such diversities of dress. He is 
not so shy as he used to be at these ceremonies, though 
I think a long walk through troops presenting arms is 
trying to everybody. The instant he arrived at the 
ghaut, he gave a general goodbye, offered me his arm, 
and we walked off to the boats as fast as we could. 
The guns fired, the gentlemen waved their hats, and 
so we left Calcutta. It has really done handsomely 
by us, and we ought to be obliged to them for saying — 
if it is no more — that they are sorry we are going. 
But I daresay we are an amusement to them. They 
liked our balls and parties, and whatever we did or 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



3 



said was the subject of an anecdote ; and if we said or 
did nothing they invented something for us — and it 
all served to wonder at — which, in a country where 
there is little society and few topics, was an advantage. 

The Sunderbunds, Monday, Oct. 23. 

We came into these lovely riant scenes on Sunday 
morning. They are a composition of low stunted trees, 
marsh, tigers and snakes, with a stream that sometimes 
looks like a very wide lake and then becomes so narrow 
that the jungle wood scrapes against the sides of the 
flat — and this morning scraped away all Gr.'s jalousies, 
which are a great loss. I never saw such a desolate 
scene: no birds flying about — • there is no grain for 
them to eat. We have met only one native boat, which 
must have been there since the Deluge. Occasionally 
there is a bamboo stuck up with a bush tied to it, which 
is to recall the cheerful fact that there a tiger has 
carried off a man. None of our Hindus, though they 
are starving, will go on shore to cook — and, indeed, it 
would be very unsafe. It looks as if this bit of world 
had been left unfinished when land and sea were 
originally parted. The flat is dreadfully hot at night ; 
but not more uncomfortable than a boat must neces- 
sarily be in this climate. 

I must make you acquainted with the other flat, 
because then, once for all, you will understand our 
prospect of travelling companions. You know all about 
Mr. and Mrs. A. and their two children. Mr. and 
Mrs. B. are our next couple. He is one of the Govern- 
ment secretaries, clever and pleasant, speaks Persian 
rather more fluently than English ; Arabic better than 



4 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



Persian ; but, for familiar conversation, rather prefers 
Sanscrit. Mr. and Mrs. C. (belonging to Mr. B.'s 
office) are a very pleasant couple ; he acts and sings, 
and knows most of the people we know, and she sings 
and plays on the harp like an angel ; and they have a 
small child, the least little sick thing possible, which I 
affection, and I mean to borrow it when we are in camp 
to play in my tent. I often weary for a child to talk 
to. Captain and Mrs. D. are our commissariat couple 
— she is very pretty. General E. is the public military 
secretary — an astutious oldish man. The two steamers 
generally anchor together at night ; but the other comes 
in later than ours, and so we have seen none of the 
other party but Mr. A., who says they do very well 
together, all things considered. General E. is sus- 
pected of not being partial to the small D., A., and C. 
children — there had been rather an angry controversy 
about some apple and pear jam ; and, in general, they 
were all, like our noble selves, so much bored that they 
went to bed at eight. Otherwise, they were all per- 
fectly happy. 

"Wednesday, Oct. 25. 
We stopped at Koolna yesterday for coals, and stayed 
an hour to let the Hindus cook their dinner. We are 
out of the Sunderbunds now, and steaming between 
two banks not quite so elevated, nor nearly so pic- 
turesque as those flat marshes between Eastcombe and 
the river; and, they say, we shall see nothing prettier, 
or rather less hideous, between this and Simla, except 
at Raj Mahl. G. is already bored to death with 
having nothing to do. He has read two novels and 
cannot swallow any more, and is longing for his quiet 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



5 



cool room at Government House. The nights are 
dreadful — all for want of a punkah — and hardly any 
of us get a wink of sleep. However, we shall soon 
overtake cooler weather. The six gentlemen passed 
the three first nights on deck, owiug to the heat below, 
and I sat up in bed fanning myself. The native ser- 
vants sleep any and everywhere, over our heads, under 
our feet, or at our doors ; and as there are no partitions 
but green blinds at the sides and gratings above, of 
course we hear them coughing all night. 

Thursday, Oct, 26. 

They are steering us very badly; we go rolling 
about from one side of the river to the other, and every 
now and then thump against the bank, and then the 
chairs and table all shake and the inkstand tips over. I 
think I feel a little seasick. Our native servants look 
so unhappy. They hate leaving their families, and 
possibly leaving two or three wives is two or three 
times as painful as leaving one, and they cannot en- 
dure being parted from their children. Then they are 
too crowded here to sleep comfortably. Major J. 
observed in a gentle, ill-used voice : tf I think Captain 
K. behaved very ill to us ; he said that between both 
steamers and the flat he could lodge all the servants 
that were indispensably and absolutely necessary to us, 
so I only brought one hundred and forty, and now he 
says there is not room even for them.' Certainly this 
boat must be drunk, she reels about in such a disorderly 
fashion. I wish I had my cork jacket on. 

I am glad that in your last letter you deigned for 
once to comment on the ( Pickwick Papers.' I collected 



6 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



all the stray numbers, and began reading them straight 
through to-day, because hitherto I have never had time 
to make out exactly what they were about, delightful 
as they were. I wish you would read over again that 
account of Winkle and the horse which will not go on 
— 6 Poor fellow ! good old horse ! ' — and Pickwick 
saying, ( It is like a dream, a horrid dream, to go about 
all day with a horrid horse that we cannot get rid of.' 
That book makes me laugh till I cry, when I am sitting 

quite by myself. There ! I thought so. We are 

aground, and the other steamer is going nourishing by, 
in ffrinnin^ delight. 

Friday, Oct. 27. 

We remained aground for two hours, and touched 
several times after we were afloat. Some of the other 
party visited us in the evening, and I lent General E. 
a novel to help him on. I have been reading 6 Astoria,' 
out of that last box you sent us, and that great fat 
6 Johnsoniana.' The anecdotes are not very new, but 
anything about J ohnson is readable. G. has got some 
Bridgewater Treatises, which he likes. 

Beanleah, Saturday, Oct. 28. 
We stopped at Surder yesterday, to take in some 
sheep. We ought to have been there two days ago, if 
we had had better pilots and fewer groundings. G. 
said, last night, when we again failed in landing there, 
that it seemed to him Absurder rather than Surder. 
He made another good pun to-day. How our intel- 
lects are weakened by the climate ! — we make and relish 
puns ! The A.D.C.s are very apt to assemble over 
our cabins at night, to smoke and to talk, and we hear 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



7 



every word they say. When it is really time to go to 
sleep, I generally send old Kosina up to disperse them, 
in her civilest manner. I was telling W. O. that they 
were like so many old Chelsea pensioners ; they go on 
prosing night after night exclusively about the army, 
the King's army and the Company's army ; and that, if 
there were only a little levity in their talk, I should not 
so much mind being kept awake by it. He said, i Ah, 
yes, we were very animated last night about the Com- 
pany's army, and your old Rosina came creeping up 
with " sahib, astai bolo" (gently speak); upon which 
G. observed, " Ah, if she had said, O sahib, nasty bolo !" 
that would have satisfied Emily much better.' This 
joke being founded on Hindustani, and coming from 
the Governor-General, kept the whole suite in a roar 
of laughter for half an hour. They really relished it. 

Two young writers whom we had known at Calcutta 
came to Surder to meet us, and we took them on board 
and took them back to Baulyah. How some of these 

young men must detest their lives ! Mr. was 

brought up entirely at Naples and Paris, came out in 
the world when he was quite a boy, and cares for nothing 
but society and Victor Hugo's novels, and that sort of 
thing. He is now stationed at B., and supposed to be 
very lucky in being appointed to such a cheerful sta- 
tion. The whole concern consists of five bungalows, 
very much like the thatched lodge at Langley. There 
are three married residents : one lady has bad spirits 
(small blame to her), and she has never been seen ; 
another has weak eyes, and wears a large shade about 
the size of a common verandah ; and the other has bad 
health, and has had her head shaved. A tour is not 



8 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



to be had here for love or money, so she ay ears a 
brown silk cushion with a cap pinned to the top of it. 
The Doctor and our friend make up the rest of the 
society. He goes every morning to hear causes between 
natives about strips of land or a few rupees — that lasts 
till five ; then he rides about an uninhabited jungle till 
seven : dines ; reads a magazine, or a new book when 
he can afford one, and then goes to bed, A lively life, 
with the thermometer at several hundred ! 

Raj Mahl, Monday, Oct. 30. 
We are now, after ten days' hard steaming, only 200 
miles from Calcutta. G. sighs for the Salisbury 6 High- 
flyer' and a good roadside inn; but to-day we have 
come to some hills, and a pretty bit of country. We 
landed at four, saw the ruins, which are very picturesque, 
gave Chance a run on shore, and we had time for one 
sketch. But the real genuine charm and beauty of 
Raj Mahl were a great fat Baboo standing at the 
ghaut, with two bearers behind him carrying the post- 
office packet. There were letters by the ( Madagascar,' 
which left Loudon the 20th July, and was only three 
months on her passage. I had your large packet, and 
ten letters. Altogether it was a great prize, was not 
it ? and just at such an interesting period. I think the 
young Queen a charming invention, and I can fancy 
the degree of enthusiasm she must excite. Even here 
we feel it. The account of her proroguing Parliament 
gave me a lump in my throat ; and then, why is the 
Duchess of Kent not with her in all these pageants ? 
There is something mysterious about that. Probably 
nothing is more simple, or obvious, but still I should 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



9 



like to know what the mother and daughter say to each 
other when they meet in private. To return to your 
letters. There must have been one missing, because 
ISTewsalls suddenly burst upon me as your actual resi- 
dence, whereas I did not know that there was such a 
place, that it bad ever been built, or that you ever 
thought of taking it. 

Wednesday, Nov. 1. 

We expect to be at Monghir to-morrow morning, 
whence I can send this. We passed through some 
pretty scenery yesterday ; but it is all over now, I am 
afraid, and we shall see nothing but flat plains till we 
arrive at Simla. 



CHAPTEE II. 

The Ganges, Saturday, Nor. 4, 1837. 
I sent off my Journal to you the day before yesterday 
from Monghir. We arrived there early on Thursday 
morning, and Gr. found there were so many people 
there whom he ought to see, and we saw so many 
objects that were tempting to sketch, that he agreed to 
remain there all day. All the English residents, six in 
number (and that is what they call a large station), 
came on board immediately, and amongst them Mr. D., 
Lord S.'s son. I thought he had been married a 
month ago, but it appears he prefers being married 
in a regular clerical fashion, and is waiting for the 
bishop, who is travelling about marrying and confirm- 



10 



UP THE COUXTEY. 



ing and clmstening, and who is to be at Monghir in 
ten days. 

We landed at half-past three, in a covered boat, 
with umbrellas, &c., and went straight to a tent, where 
the Resident had collected all the Monghir manufac- 
tures for our inspection ; but it is impossible to buy 
anything, as what is to become of it in camp ? Other- 
wise, the inlaid tables and boxes were tempting, and 
there was the prettiest dolls' furniture possible, tables, 
and cane-chairs, and sofas, and footstools, of such 
curious workmanship. The vehicles of the place, 
amounting to four buggies (that is a foolish term for a 
cabriolet, but as it is the only vehicle in use in India, 
and as buggy is the only name for said vehicle, I give 
it) and a bullock cart, were assembled for our use. 

We drove off to Seetakund, where there is a hot 
spring — a thing I never believed in ; I thought the 
water might be a little warm, just the chill taken off, 
but it was impossible to keep one's finger in this even 
for a moment, audit was the most beautiful, clear-look- 
ing basin of water, so blue and bright. The drive there 
was a real refreshment ; it is the first time for two years 
I have felt the carriage going up hill at all, and this was 
not a simple slope, but a good regular hill. Then we 
came to some genuine rocks — great bleak, grey stones, 
with weeds growing between them, and purple hills in 
the distance. I felt better directly. 

We all sketched away, and did not come back till it 
was dusk. Altogether, it was a nice scrambling, home- 
like expedition, if I had not come back with such a 
bad headache. But, though I did, I liked Monghir, 
and respect J. for having organised such a good day. 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



11 



Patua, Sunday, Nov. 5. 

Here we are, in such a comfortable house, I never 
saw the like, and very cool and pleasant it is. 

We anchored last night within sight of the town ; 
but Patna is six miles long at least, and Mr. T. lives 
at Bankipore, a sort of Battersea to Patna ; so we got 
up at six this morning, and went on deck to see the 
town. There never was anything so provokingly 
picturesque, considering that the steamer goes boring 
on without the slip;htest regard for our love of sketching. 

It was a Hindu holiday. I must do the Hindus the 
justice to say that they make as many holidays out of 
one year as most people do out of ten ; and I am not 
at all sure whether a small importation of Hindus 
would not be acceptable to you, to accompany your 
boys to school as regulators to their school-days. It 
would be a safeguard against their being overworked. 
The whole bank was lined with natives bringing im- 
mense baskets of fruit for 6 the Ganges to look at,' as 
the Nazir* expressed it ; and they were dipping their 
baskets into the river with their graceful salaams and 
then bowing their heads down to the water. They are 
much more clothed here than in Bengal, and the 
women wear bright crimson veils, or yellow with 
crimson borders, and sometimes purple dresses with 
crimson borders, and have generally a little brown 
baby, with a scarlet cap on, perched on their hips. I 
wish you would have one little brown baby for a 
change ; they are so much prettier than white children. 
Behind these crowds of people, there were old mosques 
and temples and natives' houses, and the boats of rich 

* The head of the Governor-General's native servants. 



12 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



natives in front with gilded sterns, and painted pea- 
cocks at the prow. In short, just what people say of 
India : you know it all, but it is pretty to see ; and I 
mean the 6 moral ' of my Indian experience to be, that 
it is the most picturesque population, with the ugliest 
scenery, that ever was put together. 

We breakfasted at eight, and just as we had finished, 
Mr. T. came with all the English resident gentlemen 
to take us on shore — Mr. Gr. amongst the rest. Such 

o 

a pleasure for Miss H. I think that little iron is 
coming well out of the fire. 

There were carriages without number at the ghaut ; 
a regiment, brought from Dinapore to receive his lord- 
ship, which lined the way up to Mr. T.'s house ; a 
band to play; a second breakfast to be eaten, and the 
most comfortable house possible. 

My room is lined with idle books, and these up- 
country houses all have fire-places and carpets ; and 
though it is still very hot, the idea that it ever may be 
cold is reviving. G. and F. went to church, where Mr. 
T. read prayers and another gentleman read a sermon, 
and they said it was one of the best-performed services 
they have heard in this country. We have taken a 
hideous drive this evening over some brown plains, and 
have twenty-six people at dinner, I grieve to say. I 
am as stiff as a poker with the fall into the hold of the 
fiat, and was obliged to stay at home all day. 

Monday, Nov. 6. 

A dull dinner, very ! but Mr. is in himself a 

jewel ; and he looks like that man in Matthews's ( At 
home ' who used to say, with a melancholy look, that 



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13 



he was ' fond of fun ; ' but still, in that melancholy 
way, he is very pleasant. His eyebrows keep me in a 
continual state of wonderment. They are thick masses 
of very long hair, and if they were my eyebrows, or if 
he were my Mr. T., I should with a small pair of curling- 
irons and a great deal of huile antique, make them up 
into little ringlets, like a doll's wig. I think they 
would have a very original and graceful effect. We 
have had such a fatiguing day — just what we must 
have at every station — but still it is fatiguing. There 
were about forty people at breakfast ; then, from 
eleven to one, F. and I received the ladies of the 
station, and most of the gentlemen came again, even 
those who had been at breakfast. G.'s audiences went 
on for four hours ; so the aides-de-camp had a pleasant 
day of it. 

Then there was company at luncheon ; and, at half- 
past three, G. held a durbar. Some of the rajahs came 
in great state — one with a gold howdah on his elephant ; 
another had a crimson velvet covering to his carriage, 
embroidered with gold, and they all had a great many 
retainers. To some of them G. gave gold dresses and 
turbans, and we went behind a screen to see Mr. T. 
and the other gentlemen help the rajahs into their gold 
coats. The instant the durbar was over we set off, an 
immense party, to see Patna, and we saw the Durgah, 
one of the largest Mussulman temples there is, and 
then went to a part of the town where the streets are too 
narrow for a carriage, and Avhere they had provided 
tonjauns and elephants for us, and we poked along, 
through herds of natives, to a curious Sikh temple, 
which is kept up by contributions from Runjeet Singh. 



14 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



The priest read us. a little bit of their Bible (not the 
Koran), very much to our edification, and they brought 
out a sword in a red scabbard, which they worship, 
and they gave George some petitions, and then we 
went home to another great dinner. 

Tuesday, Nov. 7. 

We have had a much quieter day. In the morning 
the rajahs of yesterday sent G. his presents — shawls, 
kincobs, &c, three very fine elephants, and two horses. 
There was nothing very pretty in the presents, except 
an ivory arm-chair and an ivory tonjaun inlaid with 
silver. F. and I had two very picturesque camels and 
camel-drivers to sketch in the morning, and the rajah 
to whom they belonged sent in the afternoon to beg Ave 
would accept both camels and riders. Such nice little 
pets, in case of anything happening to Chance or to 
F.'s deer. However, we returned them, and I heard 
last night that he was quite puzzled and annoyed that 
we would not keep them. 

G. went to see the jail and the opium godowns, 
which he said were very curious. There is opium to 
the value of 1,500,000/. in their storehouses, and Mr. 
T. says that they wash every workman who comes out; 
because the little boys even, who are employed in 
making it up, will contrive to roll about in it, and that 
the washing of a little boy well rolled in opium is 
worth four annas (or sixpence) in the bazaar, if he can 
escape to it. 

We took a quiet drive with W., and then went to a 
large granary that was built years ago, and then found 
to be useless, and now it is only curious for the echo in 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



15 



it. There we found Mrs. A., Mr. G., and Miss H. 
and some others ; and Mr. G. had brought his flute, 
and Miss H. observed that the echo repeated the notes 
of the flute better than anything else. But then Mr. 
G. clapped his hands, and that was better still. He 
gave her his arm as we came out, and she looked very 
shy ; and we all tried to look very stupid and unob- 
servant. I have not seen such a promising attachment 
for a long while. Half our party went on board to- 
night, and G. goes at seven to-morrow morning; but 

F. and I are going to stay with Mr. T. till the evening, 
and then drive straight to the ball at Dinapore, only five 
miles, and A. stays for us. All the others go, as G. 
has a levee in the morning. 

Dinapore, Thursday, Nov. 9. 

We arrived in excellent time for our ball, and to see 

G. 's landing, which by moonlight and torchlight was a 
very pretty sight. The whole way from the ghaut to 
the house where the ball was given was carpeted, and 
there are plenty of troops here to make a street, and 
our own people turned out in great force. 

There were some very pretty people at the ball, 
which went off remarkably well. Mr. G. danced three 
times with Miss H., which is considered here equal to 
a proposal and a half. Dear stern old Mr. T. is quite 
interested in that novel, and came two or three times 
in the course of the evening with a melancholy face of 
fun, to say ; — f The little affair is going on remarkably 
well : he is dancing with her again.' We are now 
going to a review, and then to a dinner given to us by 
the Queen's 31st regiment, which is to end in another 
ball and supper. 



16 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



Well ! it is lucky that anybody can do anything 
they ought to do, but I had only four hours' sleep last 
night. 

Friday, Nov. 10. 

The dinner went off well, and so did the review. 
The 31st is J.'s regiment, so he was extremely anxious 
that they should do a great deal to our honour and 
glory. We sat down seventy-four to dinner, Colonel 
B. between G. and me, and the chief lady and the 
senior captain of the regiment on our other sides ; the 
old bishop, whom we met here, took F. to the opposite 
side of the table. It was a less formal dinner than I 
expected. Gr. had to make another speech, and longer 
than last night's, and it was very original and neatly 
turned, and gave great satisfaction. We stayed 
through part of the ball, and came away before supper, 
on pretence of fatigue. Both Patna and Dinapore 
have distinguished themselves, and it has really been 
all done so cordially and handsomely that we can bear 
a little fatigue for the sake of the goodnature of the 
people who entertain us. And, at all events, it makes 
a gay week for the station. Some ladies came sixty 
miles to these balls. At the ball there were some 
rajahs in splendid dresses ; such magnificent jewels, 
and some of them had never seen an English ball 
before. They think the ladies who dance are utterly 
good for nothing, but seemed rather pleased to see so 
much vice. 

Such jewelry as we saw yesterday morning ! A 
native was sent by one of the gentlemen to show us 
some really good native jewelry. There is an orna- 
ment called a surpeche, which the rajahs wear in their 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



17 



turbans, but there is seldom such a handsome one as 
this man had for sale. It was a diamond peacock 
holding in his beak a rope of enormous pearls, which 
passed through an emerald about the size of a dove's 
egg; then there came the tassel — the top was of im- 
mense diamonds, with a hole bored at one end of them, 
and they were simply drawn together into a sort of 
I'osette, without any setting. Then there came strings 
of pearls each ending in three large diamonds. These 
ornaments are often made with discoloured pearls and 
diamonds with flaws, but this was quite perfect. The 
man asked 8,000/. for it, but will probably sell it to 
some native for 6,0001. They stick it into their turbans 
by a gold hook, and the tassel hangs over one ear. We 
have steamed quietly along to-day, and I have been 
asleep half the afternoon. 



CHAPTER III. 

Buxar, Saturday, Nor. 11, 1837. 
As we were passing a place called Bullhga this morn- 
ing, we saw an enormous concourse of natives, and it 
turned out to be a great fair for horses. So we stopped 
the steamer, and persuaded G. to go on shore, just ( to 
go to the fair,' as we should have done at home, only 
we sent all the servants with silver sticks, and took our 
own tonjauns and two of the body-guard, and went in 
the State barge and with all the aides-de-camp. In 
short, we did our little best to be imposing, considering 
that we have only the steamboat apparatus to work 



15 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



with ; but we had hardly landed when A. came breath- 
less from the other steamer to say that Mr. B. and Mr. 
C. were both half mad at the idea of a Governor- 
General going on shore in this way, and that C. was 
actually dancing about the deck with rage ; and A. 
wanted us to turn back and give it up. Luckily, G. 
would not be advised to do this. They said we should 
be murdered amongst other things; but in my life I never 
saw such a civil, submissive set of people. Our people 
and the police of the place walked on first, desiring the 
crowd to sit down, which they all did instantly, crouch- 
ing too-ether and making; a lane all through the fair. 
They are civil creatures, and I am very fond of the 
natives. There were a great many thousands of them, 
and some beautiful costumes ; the bazaars were full of 
trinkets, and pretty shawls and coloured cottons. We 
went in our tonjauns, and G. walked till he was tired, 
which is soon done ; and A. left us quite satisfied as to 
our safety, and almost persuaded it was a dignified mea- 
sure. We wanted him to tell C. that he had left G. in 
one of the 6 merry-go-rounds,' of which there were 
several, but it was not a subject that admitted of levity. 

said the Governor- General should never appear 

publicly without a regiment, and that there was no 
precedent for his going to Bullhga fair. I told him we 
had made a precedent, and that it would be his duty to 
take the next Governor-General, be he ever so lame or 
infirm, to this identical fair. 

We went this evening to see the Government stud. 
It was rather fine to see five hundred young horses 
rush at once out of their stalls, and all kick each other 
and then run away; but, barring that little incident, both 



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19 



studs on each side of the river are rather tiresome sights 
— such ugly places ! 

Grhazeepore, Sunday, ~Noy. 12. 

We arrived at three. Mr. T., the brother of our 
late dear T., is the Resident here, and lodges us. He 
had made a ghaut with a flight of steps to his house for 
our landing, and the 44th Regiment, with their band, 
were drawn up all round his lawn. 

There were two women on the landing-place with a 
petition. They were Hindu ladies, and were carried 
down in covered palanquins, and very much enveloped 
in veils. They flung themselves on the ground, and 
laid hold of G., and screamed and sobbed in a horrid 
way, but without showing their faces, and absolutely 
howled at last, before they could be carried off. Tbey 
wanted a pardon for the husband of one of them, who, 
with his followers, is said to have murdered about half 
a village full of Mussulmans, and these women say he 
did not do it, but that the Nazir of that village was his 
enemy, and did the murders, and then laid it on their 
party. These little traits are to give you an insight 
into the manners and customs of the East, and to. open 
and improve your mind, &c. After we had made our 
way through all these impediments, we rested for a time, 
and then went to see the cantonments, and to evening 
service, which was read by two of the gentlemen 
remarkably well. Then we came back to a great din- 
ner, and one of the longest I ever assisted at. I quite 
lost my head at last, and when second course was put 
down, asked Mr. T. to give me some wine, thinking it 
was dessert, and that we might get up and go. 

The dinners certainly are endless, and I do not wonder 

c 2 



20 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



they think us very rapid at Government House. There 
is sometimes half an hour between the courses. A Mr. 
S. 3 the judge, sat on one side of me, and after some dis- 
course the man seemed to know his Kent ! and I dis- 
covered he was one of the George S.'s of E. Visions 
of country halls and cricket matches came back. He 
knew Eden Farm and Penge Common ; in short, I 
liked him very much, and I think he too was refreshed 
with the reminiscences of his youth. 

Monday, Nov. 13. 

G. went in the morning to see the stud. At eleven 
we received all the station. 

In the afternoon we went to see the opium godown, 
and then P., B., and I went in the band boat along the 
shore to sketch some of the old buildings, which are very 
picturesque here. 

All the party out of both steamers dined at Mr. T.'s, 
and moreover a third steamer came up from Calcutta 
this morning, containing, amongst other passengers, a 
Mrs. P. and her pretty little daughter, who are great 
favourites with all our gentlemen, and they dined and 
went with us to a ball given by the regiment. 

There were great doubts whether a ball could be 
made out, as the want of ladies in the Mofussil makes 
dancing rather difficult However, we took a large 
party, and the ladies we had seen in the morning all 
assembled and had raised two or three extras. The 
mess-room was very prettily illuminated, with G.'s arms 
painted on the floor, and they gave us a grand supper, 
so it all did very well. I wish you could have seen the 
dancers. A Mrs. , something like Mrs. Glover 



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21 



the actress, only much fatter, with a gown two inches 
shorter then her petticoat, bounding through every 
quadrille, with her three grown-up sons dancing round 
her. She is an exemplary mother, and has been a 
widow many years, and a grandmother many more; but 
she never misses a dance ! 

Tuesday, Nov. 14. 

We did not get home last night till half-past one, 
and were up at seven to go on board, and we had to 
go smirking and smiling through all that regiment 
aorain, with all the other gentlemen to 2:0 to the boat 
with us ; but we may have a rest to-day. It certainly 
is a hard-working life, is not it ? I never get c my 
natural rest,' as Dandie Dinmont says, in the steamer 
for noise, and on the shore for work. 

I wonder how you would be in this state of life. I 
often try to fancy you. Sometimes I think you would 
be amused for about five minutes, but generally I opine 
you would go raving mad ! I constantly long to be in 
an open carriage with four post-horses, along with Gv, 
and that we might drive through a pretty country, and 
arrive at an inn where nobody could dine with us or 
ask us to a ball. However, to-morrow we are to get 
into double state, when we reach our tents, as it is of 
more importance with the up-country natives ; so it is 
of no use to think of bettering ourselves. 

Camp, Benares, Wednesday, Nov. 15. 

We arrived at Benares at ten, lay to all through the 
heat of the day, whilst the servants unloaded the flat, 
and then steamed up within view of the city, as far 
as the rajah's country-house, Ramnuggur, and then 



22 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



dropped down again, thereby seeing the whole of the 
city. The glare was horrible, but the buildings were 
worth all the blindness that ensued. Such minarets 
and mosques, rising one above the other to an immense 
height ; and the stone is such a beautiful colour. The 
ghauts covered with natives, and great white colossal 
figures of Yishnu lying on the steps of each ghaut. 
Benares is one of their most: sacred places, and they 
seem to spare no expense in their temples. We mean 
to keep our steamer here, and to go out sketching in it. 
But it would take a whole week to draw one temple 
perfectly ; the ghaut where we landed was as pretty a 
sight as any. All our elephants, two or three hundred 
baggage camels (they are much larger beasts to live with 
than I thought), bullock carts without end, and every- 
body loading every conveyance with everything. There 
are twenty shooter suwars (I have not an idea how I 
ought to spell those words), but they are native soldiers 
mounted on swift camels, very much trapped, and two 
of them always ride before our carriage. This looks 
more like the ( land of the east;' in all its ways, than 
anything we have seen. 

We landed at five, and drove four miles through 
immense crowds and much dust to our camp. The first 
evening of tents, I must say, was more uncomfortable 
than I had ever fancied. Everybody kept saying, 
' What a magnificent camp ! ' and I thought I never had 
seen such squalid, melancholy discomfort. Gr., F., and 
I have three private tents, and a fourth, to make up the 
square, for our sitting-room, and great covered passages, 
leading from one tent to the other. 

Each tent is divided into bed-room, dressiug-room, 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



23 



and sitting-room. They have covered us up in every 
direction, just as if we were native women ; and, besides 
that, there is a wall of red cloth, eight feet high, drawn 
all round our enclosure, so that, even on going out of 
the tent, we see nothing but a crimson wall. 

Inside each tent were our beds — one leaf of a dining- 
table and three cane chairs. Our pittarrahs and the 
camel-trunks were brought in ; and in about half an 
hour the nazir came to say they must all, with our 
books, dressing-cases, &c, be carried off to be put under 
the care of a sentry, as nothing is safe in a tent from 
the decoits ; so, if there were anything to arrange, there 
would be no use in arranging it, as it must all be moved 
at dusk. The canvas flops about, and it was very 
chilly in the night, though that is the only part I do 
not object to, as when we get our curtains that will be 
merely bracing ; but it feels open-airkh and unsafe. 
They say everybody begins by hating their tents and 
ends by loving them, but at present I am much pre- 
possessed in favour of a house. Opposite to our private 
tents is the great dining-tent, and the durbar tent, 
which is less shut up, and will be less melancholy to 
live in. Grod bless you, dearest ! When I am tired, 
or tented, or hot, or cold, and generally when I am in 
India, I have at least the comfort of always sitting 
down to tell you all about it, and i There is no harm in 
that, 1 as the man says in ' Zohrab.' 



24 



UP THE COUXTKY. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Camp, Benares, Wednesday, Xor. 22, 1837- 

I hate been obliged to give up the five last clays to 
other letters, to the manifest disadvantage of my 
Journal, your unspeakable loss, and my own deep 
regret : but what can be done ? It is just possible to 
do all we have to do — just not impossible to write it 
down once, but quite impossible either to live, or to 
write it over again ; and I have had a large packet of 
very old English letters since we came here, which set 
me oft answering them. 

The resume of our proceedings, since I sent off my 
Journal to you last Thursday, Xov. 16, is shortly and 
longly this : — Friday, we went a large party to the 
town in carriages ; when the streets grew too narrow 
for carriages, we got on elephants ; when the elephants 
stuck fast, we tried tonjauns ; and, when the streets 
contracted still further, we walked; and at last, I 
suppose, they came to a point, for we came back, We 
saw some beautiful old temples, and altogether it was 
a curious sight. Prout would go mad in a brown out- 
line frenzy on the spot — the buildings are so very 
beautiful for his style. I forgot to mention that at 
half-past six on Friday morning we went to a review 
on horseback. Saturday, we again got up at six, and 
F. and I went in the open carriage to sketch a tempt- 
ing mosque. At eleven we received many more 
visitors than the tent would hold — the aides-de-camp 
could hardly come in with them. 



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25 



G. held a durbar in the afternoon, at which seventy 
of the native nobility appeared. The Rajah of 
Benares came with a very magnificent surwarree of 
elephants and camels. He is immensely rich, and has 
succeeded an uncle who adopted him, to the great dis- 
comfiture of his father, who goes about with him in 
the capacity of a discontented subject. We had 
thirty-six people at dinner. Sunday, we went to 
church, and underwent the worst reading and preaching 

I ever heard from Mr. , who in general preaches 

to his clerk ; but this time the church was very full, 
and the congregation were all hoping to hear a little 
something that might do them good from our dear Y. 
In the afternoon G. and I went out on an elephant, 
and, in an attempt to make a quiet and rural cut home, 
nearly drowned one of our outriding camels and his 
rider ; so we came home, much ashamed of ourselves, 
by the common dusty road. Monday, we got up 
early, and set off at seven, to pay a visit to the old 
Delhi Begum. The particulars I narrated with 
wonderful accuracy, bordering on tediousness, to M., 
and I am confident you would not wish me to repeat 
them. 

G. positively declared against any more dust or any 
more drives, so we stuck to the tents in the afternoon. 
He cannot endure his tent, or the camp life altogether, 
and it certainly is very much opposed to all his habits 
of business and regularity. 

On Monday evening we went to the ball again, 
given to us by the station. They have a theatre here, 
and had boarded over the pit, and by leaving some 
forest scenery standing on the stage, with our band 



26 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



playing from under the pasteboard trees, they made 
out a very pretty ball-room, much the best we have 
seen in f the Mofussil,' and there were plenty of ladies, 
old and young, who seemed to be very glad of a dance. 
We got home at one. 

There ! W. has heard that Mr. G. has proposed. 
I am so glad ; for Miss EL has left in England every- 
body that cared for her. I know that she has long 
liked Mr. G. I feel, too, that it is a triumph for our 
camp that at our very first station we should have 
married off our only young lady. 

Yesterday we had a grand expedition, which I am 
going to give you and the children, once for all, at 
great length, and then you will for the future take it 
for granted that all native fetes are much alike. 

The Rajah of Benares asked us to come to his 
country-house, called Ramnuggur (how it is spelt, I 
cannot say ; probably with none of those letters). It 
is on the other side of the Ganges. We drove down 
to the river-side through a dense cloud of dust. I 
asked one of our servants to dust me gently with my 
pocket-handkerchief, and without any exaggeration a 
thick cloud came out of my cape. 

Mrs. C.'s black bonnet was of a light brown 
colour. 

We found the rajah's boats waiting for us — a silver 
armchair and footstool for his lordship in the prow, 
which was decorated with silvered peacocks, and a sort 
of red embroidered tent for i his wornenS where we 
placed ourselves, though there was another boat with 
two inferior silver chairs for F. and me. All these 
things are grandly imagined, but with the silver chairs 



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27 



there are boatmen in dirty liveries or no liveries at 
all ! — and it is all discrepant, or generally so. 

This rajah is immensely rich ; he had a great many 
handsome things. I enclose a sketch to illustrate for 
the children i their dear devoted creature,' G., first in 
the silver tonjaun which took him down to the boat, 
then in the other State silver tonjaun that took him up 
from the ghaut, and then a back view of him on his 
elephant. I often wonder whether it really can be G., 
the original simple, quiet one. He does it very well, 
but detests great part of the ceremonies, particularly 
embracing the rajahs ! 

The rajah met us at the ghaut, and we were all 
carried off to the elephants, and got on them to go and 
see his garden, though it was nearly dusk. But the 
first sight was very striking. 

Eighteen elephants and crowds of attendants, and 
then crowds as far as we could see of natives, going 
on f Wah ! wah ! Hi Lord Sahib.' We rode about 
till it was quite dark, and then the rajah proposed we 
should return ; and when we came to the turn of the 
road, the whole of the village and his castle, which is 
an enormous building, was illuminated. Wherever 
there was a straight line, or a window, or an arch, 
there was a row of little bright lamps ; every cross of 
the lattices in every window had its little lamp. It 
was the largest illumination I ever saw. We went on 
the elephants through the great gateway, in a Timour 
the Tartar fashion, into the court. Such torches and 
spearmen and drums and crowds, like a melodrama 
magnified by a solar microscope ; it was the sort of 
scene where Ellen Tree would have snatched up a 



28 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



doll from under Farley's sword, and said, { My boy, 
my boy, my rescued Agib ! ' or words to that effect, 
while the curtain fell slowly. We got off at the door 
of an immense hall, a sort of court, and the rajah's 
servants spread a path of scarlet and gold kincob from 
the door to the seat at the farthest end, for us to walk 
on. Considering that it is a pound a yard, and that 
I have been bargaining for a week for enough for a 
wadded douillette and was beat out of it, it was a pity 
to trample on it, and it led to a catastrophe, as you will 
see if you read on. The rajah put us three on a 
velvet sofa, with a gold gauze carpet before it. He sat 
on one side of us and his father on the other, and 
Mr. B. and Mr. C. on each side to interpret, and then 
the aides-de-camp and the other ladies ; and then the 
nautch-girls began dancing. He had provided an im- 
mense troop of them, and they were covered with 
jewels and dressed in gold brocades, some purple and 
some red, with long floating scarfs of gold gauze. 
Most of them ugly, but one was I think the prettiest 
creature I ever saw, and the most graceful. If I have 
time I will send a little coloured sketch of her, just to 
show the effect of her dress. She and another girl 
danced slowly round with their full draperies floating 
round them, without stopping, for a quarter of an hour, 
during all which time they were making flowers out 
of some coloured scarfs they wore, and when they had 
finished a bunch they came and presented it to us with 
such graceful Eastern genuflexions. The whole thing 
was like a dream, it was so curious and unnatural. 
Then the Ranee sent for us, and F. and I set off in 
tonjauns for the women's apartments, with the ladies 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



29 



who were with us. They carried us through a great 
many courts, and then the rajah gave me his cold, 
flabby little hand, and handed us up some narrow, 
dirty stairs, and came in with us behind the purdah 
and introduced us to the Ranee his mother, who was 
very splendidly dressed, and to some of his sisters, who 
were ugly. Then they asked us to go and see an old 
grandmother, and the Ranee laid hold of my hand, and 
one of the sisters took F., and they led us along an 
immense court on the roof, to the old lady, who is 
blind and very ill; but they had dressed her up for 
us, and we .had to kiss her, which was not very nice. 
There was another immense nautch provided, which 
we had not time to look at. We gave our rings, and 
they brought the trays of presents which are usually 
given, a diamond ring and drops for earrings, two neck- 
laces (very trashy), some beautiful shawls and kincobs, 
and some muslin ; then they put immense skipping- 
ropes of silver braid, bigger than a common boa, round 
our necks, and small ones on the other ladies, and then 
poured attar of roses on our hands, and we left the old 
lady. When we came back to the Ranee's room, she 
showed us her little chapel, close to her sofa, where 
there were quantities of horrid-looking idols — Vishnu, 
and so on. Several native girls were introduced to us, 
but only one who was pretty, and who has just been 
betrothed to the father of the rajah. The young 
Ranees, or whatever they are called, are very shy, and 
stand with their eyes closed, but the older ones had 
great fun when we were going away in pouring the 
attar over our gowns, and utterly spoiled mine, which 
was silk : next time I shall go in muslin. When we 



30 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



came down, the trays for Gr. were brought in ; they 
covered what would be called a very large room, and 
some of the gold stuffs have turned out to be very 
beautiful. It is a stupid etiquette, that we are not to 
appear to see these presents. It is a tribute, and the 
superior is to be too grand to see what the inferior 
offers. When that was done, we went to the illumina- 
tion, which was done on a very large scale, but not so 
neatly as at home ; then to the boat, where the rajah 
accompanied us, and there was a second illumination on 
the river, much more beautiful than the first — and the 
blue lights, and the crowds, and the great pile of 
buildings made a grand show. We got back at eleven, 
very tired and starving hungry, but it was a curious 
sight and much to be remembered. There ! now you 
have borne all that so well, you shall not have any 
more of it, though probably we shall have more than 
enough. The kincob catastrophe was, that some of 
our servants were so over-tempted by it, that without 
the slightest respect for time or place, the instant we 
had walked over it they snatched it up and carried it 
off. It would have been sent to them to-morrow from 
the rajah, but it was a shameful thing to do ; and as the 
Government House servants fancy they may oppress 
any and everybody during their journeys, Captain J. 
assembled all who went with us, and the chief culprits 
were picked out and discharged. There are five 
victims, but luckily only one who is a very old servant. 
It is a great bore, as we have brought them a great 
way from their homes, and it is difficult to replace 
them here. 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



31 



CHAPTEE V. 

jMoliun ke Serai. 

We made our first march. The bugle sounds at half- 
past five to wake us, though the camels perform that 
ceremony rather earlier, and we set off at six as the 
clock strikes, for as nobody is allowed to precede the 
Governor-General, it would be hard upon the camp if 
we were inexact. The comfort of that rule is inex- 
pressible, as we escape all dust that way. G. and F., 
with Captain N. and Captain M., went in the carriage 
towards Chumar, and I went with Captain J., Captain 
D., and W. the regular route, each on our elephant 
half-way, and the other half on horseback. 

It is very pleasant and cool at that time, really nice 
weather, and we had a short march — only seven miles 
and a half. It seems somehow wicked to move 12,000 
people with their tents, elephants, camels, horses, 
trunks, &c, for so little, but there is no help for it. 
There were a great many robberies in the camp last 
night. Mrs. A. saw a man on his hands and knees 
creeping through her tent, but she called out, and he 
ran away without taking anything. Mr. B. says, 
when he and his wife were encamped last year on this 
spot, which is famous for thieves, they lost everything, 
even the shawl that was on the bed, and the clothes 
Mrs. B. had left out for the morning wear, and he had 
to sew her up in a blanket and drive her to Benares 
for fresh things. W. and I went out on the elephant 
in search of a sketch in the afternoon, and G. and F. 



32 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



came back to dinner very much pleased with their ex- 
pedition. Those unfortunate men who were parted 
with yesterday have plagued my heart out all day. 
Of course. Captain J.'s soft heart was melted early in 
the morning, and he came to beg to have them back 
again, but he owns it was a shocking atrocity according 
to the customs of the country, and if we were too easy 
about it, of course it would be said that Gr. despised 
and affronted the native princes, and even that our 
servants would think so ; but still it was difficult to 
be firm. There is something so very imploring in these 
people. Three times they contrived to get into my 
tent with then- relations, and some of the old servants 
to help them, and they cry, and lay hold of one's feet, 
and somehow it seems so odd not to forgive anybody 
who wishes it even less humbly than they do. 

My jemadar was interpreting for them, with tears 
rolling down all the time, and it shocked me when he 
said : ( They say that they have followed lordship and 
ladyship great way from their own homes ; they made 
one fault, one very bad one, but God Almighty even 
forgive everybody once, else what become of us all? I 
could not help thinking of the 6 seventy times seven ; ' 
and if we were forgiven only once, what, as he says, 
would become of us ? However 3 1 pacified them to a cer- 
tain degree by giving them money enough to take them 
back to Calcutta, and explained that if it had been any 
offence against our customs we should have overlooked 
it directly, but as it was a great disrespect to one of their 
own princes we could not, out of regard to their own 
country, forgive it ; and any compliment to India goes 
a great way. My men told me afterwards, that it was 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



33 



very true one native would tell the other that the 
rajah had been ill-treated, and that they would say this 
Governor lets even his servants hurt the people. W. 
said the Sepoys were all talking it over, and were glad 
the men were punished. 

Tamarhabad, Friday, Nov. 24. 

We marched ten miles to-day. These moves are 
the most amusing part of the journey ; besides the odd 
native groups, our friends catch us up in their deshabille 
— Mrs. A. carrying the baby in an open carriage ; 
Mrs. C. with hers fast asleep in a tonjaun; Miss H. 
on the top of an elephant, pacffyikig the big boy of the 
A.s ; Captain D. §fiS§ v <5rin a suit\of dust-coloured 
canvas, ^yith a M<3^h§ard$£)ftat, going as hard as he 
can, to see that the tent is ready jfe^iis wife ; Mrs. B. 
carrying Mr. B.'s pet cat in 'her palanquin carriage, 
with her ayah opposite guarding the parroquet from 
the cat. Then Giles comes bounding by, in fact, run 
away with, but apologises for passing us when we 
arrive, by saying he was going on to take care that tea 
was ready for us. Then we overtake Captain D.'s 
dogs, all walking with red great coats on — our dogs all 
wear coats in the morning; then Chance's servant 
stalking along, with a great stick in one hand, a shawl 
draped over his livery, and Chance's nose peeping from 
under the shawl. F.'s pets travel in her cart. We 
each have a cart, but I can never find anything to put 
in mine. There are fakeers who always belong to a 
camp, and beat their drums just by the first tent, and 
the instant this drum is heard everybody thinks of their 
breakfast and hurries on ; and the Sepoys and servants 
are so glad to get to the end of the march, that they 

D 



34 



UP THE COUjS t TET. 



throw the fakeer a cowrie, or some infinitely small coin, 
by which he lives. 

Mr. A. came over yesterday evening. They 
brought Mr. G. as far as Chroppra, his station, and 
he is to follow us to Allahabad, when the wedding will 
take place. 

Groofrein, Sunday, Not. 26. 

We came another ten miles yesterday, and always 
halt on Sunday. All these places are so exactly like 
each other — a mere sandy plain with a tank and a little 
mosque near at hand — that I never can make out why 
they have any names ; there is nothing to give a name 
to. The Rajah of Benares marches with us till we come 
to his frontier, and he always encamps within half a 
mile of us. He expressed a wish yesterday to see our 
horses, so Captain M., who takes charge of the stables, 
went himself this morning with all the whole concern. 
There are sixty horses altogether in our stables — as the 
aides-de-camp keep theirs with ours, and the syces are 
all dressed alike — so it made a very good show ; and 
there were 140 elephants. Captain M. and the rajah 
sat on two ivory chairs, in front of the rajah's tent, and 
the horses and carriages and elephants were all led 
round, and he asked the name of every animal, and 
which each of us rode, and any that he admired he had 
brought round a second time. It is one of the few 
civilities that amuse a native, so we were glad it 
answered so well. Soon after the horses returned, the 
nazir and three or four of the native servants came 
into my tent in great perturbation : the rajah had sent 
the nazir a pair of shawls, one shawl to the elephant 
jemadar, and another to Gr.'s mahout, and 300 rupees 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



35 



in little bags for the syces and elephant coolies. And 
after the fuss that was made a few days ago, about the 
servants taking no presents, the nazir clearly thought 
he was in clanger of losing his place for having one 
offered to him. ' My shawls are a present, therefore, 
I fear,' he said in his most timid tone. I sent for Mr. 
B., who said there was no doubt that, as it was a 
private civility from the Governor-General to the 
rajah, sending his own horses, &c. &c, that the ser- 
vants might keep their presents. I never saw people 
so happy as they were. Mr. Y. read and preached so 
well to-day : it was the first Sunday in tents, and the 
largest one was very well arranged, like a chapel. We 
had a larger congregation than I expected, nearly 
sixty ; amongst them some old European soldiers, who 
looked very "respectable. It was odd and rather awful 
to think that sixty Christians should be worshipping 
God in this desert, which is not their home, and that 
12,000 false worshippers should be standing round 
under the orders of these few Christians on every 
point, except the only one that is of any importance; the 
idolaters, too, being in their own land, and with millions 
within reach, who all despise and detest our faith. 

Tuesday, Nov. 28. 

Yesterday we made an expedition to Mirzapore, the 
great carpet manufactory. We left the camp at a 
quarter before six, by torchlight, and went nine miles 
across the country to Mirzapore, leaving the camp to 
pursue its own straight road. We found the usual 
assortment of magistrates, judges, collectors, &c. &c, 
with boats, carriages, and tonjauns : crossed the river ; 



36 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



landed Gr., who went off to see the jail and manufac- 
tories. We stuck to the boat to draw a most beautiful 
ghaut, a mass of temples and carving. When that 
was done, we went to see the house of a rich native, 
every inch of which is painted in arabesques, aH done 
by native artists, and very curious. Then we saw the 
town, and then went to the house of Mr. K., the 
magistrate, where there was all the society of the place 
— thirty gentlemen and one lady — and we got some 
breakfast at ten, when we were on the point of perish- 
ing. The excellent Mr. K., like an upright judge as 
he is, had made out a dressing-room with two sofas and 
books, and every comfort, for F. and me. Major L. 
was at luncheon : he is the man who has taken most of 
the Thugs, and he told me such horrid stories of them. 
The temple at which they dedicate themselves to the 
goddess of destruction is in this town. The Thugs 
offer human sacrifices there whenever they can procure 
them. We left Mirzapore at four, and overtook our 
camp at six. It looked pretty by torchlight. We 
moved on another ten miles this morning, but, where 
we are, I cannot precisely tell you. I think it sounds 
like Gugga Gauge ; at all events, that is as good as the 
real word. 



CHAP TEE VI. 

Camp near Allahabad, Nov. 30, 1837. 
I SENT off one journal to you two days ago from a 
place that, it since appears, was called Bheekee. 
Yesterday we started at half-past five, as it was a 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



37 



twelve miles' march, and the troops complain if they 
do not get in before the sun grows hot, so we had half 
an hour's drive in the dark, and F. rode the last half of 
the way. I came on in the carriage, as I did not feel 
well, and one is sick and chilly naturally before break- 
fast. Not but that I like these morning inarches ; the 
weather is so English, and feels so wholesome when one 
is well. The worst part of a march is the necessity of 
everybody, sick or well, dead or dying, pushing on with 
the others. Luckily there is every possible arrange- 
ment made for it. There are beds on poles for sick 
servants and palanquins for us, which are nothing but 
beds in boxes. I have lent mine to Mrs. C. G. and I 
went on an elephant through rather a pretty little 
village in the evening, and he was less bored than usual, 
but I never saw him hate anything so much as he does 
this camp life. I have long named my tent e Misery 
Hall.' F. said it was very odd, as everybody observed 
her tent was like a fairy palace. 

( Mine is not exactly that,' G. said ; f indeed I call 
it Foully Palace, it is so very squalid-looking.' He 
was sitting in my tent in the evening, and when the 
purdahs are all down, all the outlets to the tents are so 
alike that he could not find which crevice led to his 
abode ; and he said at last, i Well ! it is a hard case ; 
they talk of the luxury in which the Governor-General 
travels, but I cannot even find a covered passage from 
Misery Hall to Foully Palace.' 

This morning we are on the opposite bank of the 
river to Allahabad, almost a mile from it. It will take 
three days to pass the whole camp. Most of the horses 
and the body-guard are gone to-day, and have got 



38 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



safely over. The elephants swim for themselves, but 
all the camels, which amount now to about 850, have 
to be passed in boats : there are hundreds of horses 
and bullocks, and 12,000 people. 

I am sure it would have done Mrs. Trimmer's heart 
good to see them all on the beach this evening. I 
thought of her print of the Israelites crossing the Red 
Sea — a skimpy representation, but it was the first 
idea we had of that event. The picture at Stafford 
House enlarged my notions, and now I think I have 
come to the real thing, and indeed am a Red Sea 
Israelite myself. 

Allahabad, Dec. 2. 

We crossed the river at seven yesterday morning. 
The Ganges and Jumna join each other here, and this 
junction makes the water so uncommonly precious and 
sacred, that Hindus come here from all parts of the 
country on pilgrimage. The rich Hindus at a great 
distance buy the water, and we met strings of pilgrims 
yesterday carrying jars of it, with which they will travel 
farther south than Calcutta. 

We were met at the ghaut by a large collection of 
residents. I hate a great, station, and Allahabad has 
a very modern, uninteresting, sandy look about it. 

Foully Palace looked particularly unhappy this 
morning. G.'s furniture, somehow, was deluged, and 
his whole stock of comfort amounted to one cane chair 
and a table, and he called us all in to see his eastern 
luxury. I handsomely offered to lend him the arm- 
chair Mr. D. gave me, and which is so continually my 
companion, ( my goods, my chattels, my household 
stuff,' that I had no doubt it was in i Misery Hall.' I 



UP THE COUNTKY. 



39 



told my little ameer to give it to the Lord Sahib, but 
he told me afterwards, ( Ladyship's chair in river too, 
but me find arm-chair in other tent, and me put Lord 
Sahib in it.' I think I see him fixing Gr. in his chair. 
Mine is quite safe, I am happy to say. 

In the afternoon Gr. and I, and a Mr. B., rather a 
clever man, went to see some tombs about three miles 
off. You know the sort of people who have tombs 
worth seeing — c Shah Houssein,' or 6 Nour Jehan,' 
or, words to that effect. 

However, the tombs were there, and F. and I stayed 
there sketching till it was quite dusk, and kept the 
carriage, and Gr. and Mr. B. and Captain M. rode home 
such a roundabout way that dinner was cold before they 
got back. 

Monday, Dec. 4. 

We had church in camp again yesterday. We re- 
ceived visitors on Saturday evening instead of the 
morning, by way of an experiment, and it answered 
much better. It all comes more in the natural way of 
work than in the heat of the day, and we had the band, 
and tea, and negus, and sandwiches. It was a regular 
party, much larger than I expected ; the great durbar 
tent was qwite full, and they are a more fashioned- 
looking set here. By coming in the evening G. sees 
them, which they prefer, and which, strange to say, he 
likes too. We have thirty-five of them at dinner to- 
day, and thirty-seven to-morrow. On Thursday they 
give us a ball, and on Saturday we depart. 

Lucknow and Agra were to have been the two in- 
cidents of the, journey that were to make up for the 
bore of all the rest. Lucknow has been cut off, because 



40 UP THE COUNTRY. 

the King cannot meet the Governor- General, and B. 
cannot reconcile himself to such a breach of etiquette, 
the poor old man being bedridden. Agra, they say, 
is in a state of famine and scarcity. If so, of course it 
would be very wrong to take our great camp there. 
So we shall not see the Taj — the only thing that, all 
Indians say, is worth looking at. 

Here there is a sort of Dowager Queen of the 
Gwalior country ; her style and title being 6 the Baiza 
Baee.' She is very clever, has been handsome, and, 
some say, is beautiful still. She cannot endure being 
only a Dowager Baiza Baee ; and being immensely rich, 
she has been suspected of carrying on intrigues amongst 
her former subjects. She has always been visited by 
all great potentates, but B. chose to say that neither 
G. nor we should go to see her. She took this dread- 
fully to heart, and has been sending ambassadors and 
letters and presents without end, and asserted that she 
T^ould be disgraced for ever if she were so slighted. 
Then B. went to see her himself, and was either talked 
over, or was ashamed of always putting spokes in every- 
body's wheel; he is a spoke himself and nothing else. 
Now he wants G. to go : however, he cannot get out 
of his lordship's head what he has put into it, and G. 
will not go, but is going to send us — just the very 
thing Spoke wanted to prevent. 

I am so glad, though it is a great deal of trouble to 
us ; but I am glad out of spite. 

Tuesday, Dec. 5. 

Our great dinner yesterday went off very well. For 
the first time since we left Calcutta, indeed almost 
since we left England, I made yesterday a nice little 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



41 



solitary expedition. G. was gone to the native schools 
and jails, and F. and W. were out riding. I always 
have more or less of a headache the day that English 
letters arrive ; they put me in a fuss, even if they are 
all right ; so I thought it would be very nice to escape 
all companions except Chance, and I told my jemadar 
to have the tonjaun at the wrong side of the tent, 
stepped into it, and made them carry me three miles 
off in search of a very eligible flame-coloured idol, 
which I had marked down as a good sketch the day 
we landed. The bearers carry one very fast for that 
sort of distance, and Chance runs along by the chair 
in a very satisfactory manner. I am afraid the jemadar 
thought it an improper and undignified proceeding, for 
he fetched out every servant I have of the walking 
character, seventeen scarlet men in all ; and the poor 
hirkarus, who have sat cross-legged for the last two 
years, ran on first as hard as they could, screaming to 
everybody to get out of the way. Chance thought it 
excellent fun, and barked all the time. We passed by 
the camp of the Nawab of Banda, who is come to visit 
Gr., and has a camp as large as ours, with such strange- 
looking painted horses pawing about it. I found my 
idol, made a lovely coloured sketch with quantities of 
Venetian red, and got back just as it grew dark. 

The country about here is hideous, and I cannot 
imagine why the residents like it. It is very like Cal- 
cutta, without the bright green grass, or the advantages 
of a town, ships, shops, &c. 

I went in the morning, with Captain M., to see a 
native female school, which some of the ladies wanted 
me to see. I have not the least esteem for them (the 



42 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



schools, not the ladies). The natives take the little 
girls away from them as soon as they are betrothed — 
at seven or eight years old — and, even till that age, the 
children will not come unless they are paid for it. 
After that time nothing more is seen or known of them, 
and there has never been an instance of conversion ; so 
there is something in their reading the Bible just as 
they would any story book that is rather wrong than 
right, I think. These children seemed to read it more 
fluently than any I have heard, and the schoolmistress 
spoke Hindustani exactly like a native, and probably 
asked very good questions. 

The children looked very poor ; and luckily half the 
ceiling of the school fell down while I was there, owing 
to the successful labours of the white ants, which gave 
the ladies an opportunity of observing that their funds 
were in a very bad state. All these sights are very 
expensive, and I never know exactly what is expected 
from us. I gave 15/. for all three of us, but it is a very 
odd system of the good people here, that they never 
acknowledge any donation. It is supposed to be a 
gift from Providence ; so, whether it is satisfactory to 
them, or not, remains a mystery. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Thursday, Dec. 7, 1837. 
We had our wedding yesterday morning ; the tent 
made up into a very good chapel. Miss H. was very 
nicely dressed, and looked very well. Mr. G. was 
uncommonly happy. 



UP THE COUNTKY. 43 

Mr. Y. always puts me in mind of R. He could 
not build up an altar to his mind, and was prancing up 
and down the tent, just in one of R.'s ways. 

He treated with immense scorn an idea of mine, to 
try the state housings of the elephant, which are 
scarlet, embroidered all over in gold ; but I sent for 
them, and you can't imagine what a fine altar we made, 
with four arm-chairs for railings, and some carpets and 
velvet cushions in front. It was quite picturesque, 
only we were obliged to forewarn Mr. G. that neither 
he nor H. were to faint away toivards the altar, 
because it would then all come down with a crash. 
She cried less than I expected ; but indeed her spirits 
were very much kept up by a beautiful shawl G. gave 
her. 

We had a quiet dinner yesterday. Most of the 
camp dine at a great wedding dinner given by a rela- 
tion of the A.s. 

The young Prince Henry of Orange is at Calcutta, 
and we heard this morning that he has settled to come 
up dak (or travelling day and night in a palanquin) 
and join us. He will overtake us about Tuesday or 
Wednesday, between this and Cawnpore. 

Gr. cannot stop here for him, but we leave Captain 
M. behind to bring him on, and he brings up an extra 
aide-de-camp from Calcutta. 

We are going to put Giles at the head of his estab- 
lishment, and are organising tiger hunts, &c, on the 
road for him. I am very glad he is coming. His 
father wrote such a pretty letter to G. about him, and 
it will be easy to amuse a boy in a camp. 

St. Cloup* is in ecstasies at the prince's arrival. 

* The Governor- General's cook. 



44 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



He was cook to the Prince of Orange at the Hague, 
and knew this boy as a child — ( un jeune homme char- 
mant ! — toujours le chapeau a la main — si poli, si 
gentil ! — Allons, madame, je vais parler au khansamah ; 
nous allons faire bonne chere. II ne se plaindra pas 
de son diner, Dieu merci ! ' 

B. is defeated with great loss, and we are going to 

see the Baiza Baee to-morrow. A Mrs. , her 

great friend, has been here this morning, in the first 
place to bring Chance a pair of gold bangles and a pair 
of silver bangles that were made for him by a young 
officer who saw him at Barrackpore, and who left them 
to be offered to Chance on his progress. You never saw 
such a good figure as he is, and he walks just as the native 
women do, when their ankles are covered with bangles. 

Then Mrs. — — came to say that the Baiza Baee 
had asked her to come and interpret for us, which will 
be a great comfort. She says the Baiza Baee had said 
to her, 6 1 want to give the Miss Edens a native ball 
and supper. I think I had better buy a house large 
enough.' She stopped that; and now, to save us five 
miles of dusty road, the Baee is to come down to her 
private tents, which are pitched only a mile off. 

Saturday, Dec. 9. 

We had our ball on Thursday — a particularly sleepy 
one — perhaps my fault, for I could not keep my eyes 
open ; but the dancing seemed sleepy, considering the 
degree of practice the dancers must have had. 

There was an old Mrs. , with hair perfectly 

white, and a nice mob cap over it, who bounded through 
every quadrille with some spirit, but most of the young 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



45 



people were very languid. We had a great deal of 
health-drinking and speechifying ; but as they under 
stood we liked early hours, they ordered supper at 
eleven, and after supper, fortunately, my nose began 
to bleed, which was an excellent excuse for coming 
away. 

Everybody else is much the better for marching. 
F. is in a state of health and activity perfectly un- 
equalled, and with a really good colour. G. detests 
his tent and his march, and the whole business so 
actively, that he will not perceive how well he is. I 
never shall think a tent comfortable, but I do not hate 
it so much as Gr. does, from the dawdlingness of the 
life ; and I would go through much more discomfort 
for the sake of the coolness of the mornings. 

We paid our visit to the Baiza Baee yesterday. 
The young princess came to fetch us, but as we could 
not ensure our tents being so completely private as they 
ought to be, B. asked her, through the curtains of her 
palanquin, not to get out, and said that we would follow 
her immediately. So we set off in one carriage, and 
W. and three other aides-de-camp in the other, and 
quantities of servants and guards, and her palanquin 
was carried by the side of our carriage, with six of her 
ayahs running by it, and a Mahratta horsewoman, all 
over jewels, riding behind, and hundreds of wild-look- 
ing horsemen in such picturesque dresses, galloping 
backwards and forwards, and the princess's uncle on 
an elephant, whom they had painted bright green and 
blue, and who went at a full trot, much, I should think, 
to the detriment of ( my uncle's ' bones. It was an 
odd, wild-looking procession, quite unlike anything we 



46 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



have seen yet. The visit to the Baee was very like 
any other native visit. 

She is a clever-looking little old woman, with re- 
mains of beauty. She covered us with jewels, chiefly 
pearls and emeralds, and there were fifteen trays 
a-piece, for F. and me, filled with beautiful shawls, 
gauzes, &c. — you never saw such treasures. How- 
ever, the astutious old lady was fully aware that they 
all went to the Company, and after we came away was 
persuaded by Mr. B. to retain them ; but she told us 
confidentially and iniquitously that the jewels had been 
specially prepared for us, and inferior articles of the 
same kind would be sent with the list that is always 
given to Mr. B., so that he could make no claim on 
these. We laughed, and assured her that was not the 
usual English custom, and she took them all back 
again very willingly, except two little rings, which we 
kept in exchange for ours. Mine was made of pearls 
in the shape of a mitre, and it looked so handsome on 
Chance's tail that TV r . wanted to apply to B. to know 
if he would not waive the rights of the Company just 
in favour of that ring and that tail ! 

Mooftee-ka-Poorwah, Sunday, Dec. 10. 
Yesterday they made a mistake in the time, and 
called us at half-past four, which gave us an hour's 
drive in the dark, over a very bad road, and an hour 
to wait for breakfast. I never did see so hideous a 
country, and this is a very ugly station. 4 Foully 
Palace ' looks particularly striking, as the dust has 
actually dyed the tents brown, and Gr.'s disgust is 
turning him yellow. 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



47 



He is longing to go back to Calcutta. The weather 
has grown so much cooler and pleasanter, I cannot 
agree with him. 

Koosseah, Monday, Dec. 11. 

We had a sixteen miles' march, quite as much as the 
servants and troops could manage, and we were above 
three hours coming in the carriage. 

Gr. and F. rode the last five miles. We are encamped 
under trees, and it looks prettier. The King of Oude 
has sent his cook to accompany us for the next month, 
and yesterday, when our dinner was set out, his khan- 
samah and kitmutgars arrived with a second dinner, 
which they put down by the side of the other, and the 
same at breakfast this morning. Some of the dishes 
are very good, though too strongly spiced and per- 
fumed for English tastes. They make up some dishes 
with assafoetida ! but we stick to the rice and pilaus and 
curries. St. Cloup is so cross about them. 

The king has also sent greyhounds and huntsmen, 
and a great many beautiful hawks, and we are going 
out hunting this afternoon if the elephants are rested 
after their long march. To-morrow, F. and I mean to 
strike off from the camp to a place called Kurrah, 
where there are some beautiful tombs, and we shall 
have a tent there, with breakfast and luncheon. It is 
three miles from the camp, and all our cool light time 
would be lost if we went there and back from the 
camp. 

Kistoghiir, Wednesday, Dec. 13. 
Our hunting expedition was on a grand scale, hunts- 
men and spearmen and falconers in profusion, and 
twelve elephants, and five miles of open country, and 



48 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



the result was, that we killed one innocent and un- 
suspecting black crow, and two tame paddy birds, 
which one of the falconers quietly turned out. But it 
was a grand sight, and I have made a rare sketch of 
some of the people. 

P. and I went off to Kurrah yesterday morning, 
and found three tents pitched opposite to a beautiful 
tomb. Cr. and Captain X. left us after they had seen 
two or three ruins, and we stayed out sketching with 
P. and M. till breakfast time. The sketching mania 
is spreading luckily, for as these young gentlemen must 
£0 with us, it will be a great blessing both for them- 
selves and us if they can draw too. P. has set up a 
book, and seems to draw well. These little quiet 
encampments are very pleasant, after the great dusty 
camp. 

^V. had meant to shoot at Kurrah : he always goes 
on the day before, as he hates getting up early and 
likes living alone ; but there was some mistake about 
his tent last night, and when he arrived with a tired 
horse over a cross-road, there was nothing but his bed, 
and no tent, and all the servants sleeping round a large 
fire. The servants said, i 0, Sahib went away very 
impassionate.' 

"We went on our elephants at four, to see the fort, 
an old ruin, on a real, steep rock, with a great bird's- 
eve view of the Oude country. Certainly a hill is a 
valuable article. We then joined the camp, through 
four miles of old temples and tombs, and the ground 
about as uneven as that at Eastcombe. Altogether, 
Kurrah answered to us. 

We had rather a large dinner afterwards. 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



49 



Futtehpore, Dec. 15. 

Yesterday we were at a very dull place, Thurriah 
by name, and were not even tempted to ride out of the 
camp. The band plays in the afternoon, between five 
and six, which I established, because at dinner it is 
impossible to listen comfortably ; and it really plays so 
beautifully, it is a pity not to hear it. 

All the party walk up and down what we call 
High Street in front of our tents. The Y.s with their 
two children, he taking a race with his boy, and then 
helping to pack a camel. The i vicarage ' is always 
the tent that is first struck. The A.s slink off down 
A-alley, at the back of their tent, because in her 
present state of figure she is ashamed to be seen ; the 
C.s take an elephant. Colonel P. walks up and down 
waiting to help Mrs. P. off her horse, and wishing she 
would not ride with her husband. 

Mrs. L. toddles about with her small child, and L. 
always makes some excuse for not walking with f Carry 
dear.' The officers of the escort and their wives all 
pursue their domestic walks ; the aides-de-camp and 
doctor get their newspapers and hookahs in a cluster 
on their side of the street. W. has his hookah in front 
of his tent, and F. sits with him, and they feed his 
dogs and elephants. Gr. and I and Chance sit in front 
of my tent. Altogether it is a public sort of meet- 
ing, in which everybody understands that they are 
doing their domestic felicity, and nobody takes the 
slightest notice of anybody else. 

Futtehpore, Dec. 16. 

The Prince of Orange arrived at two yesterday. 
He is a fair, quiet-looking boy, and is very shy and 

E 



50 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



very silent. He did not seem the least tired with ten 
days and nights of palanquin. We sent the carriage 
to meet him some miles off, with some luncheon. Gr. 
pressed him to try a warm bath, and five minutes after 
saw his own cherished green tub carried over. 

f I really can't stand that,' he said ; ( if he keeps my 
tub, there must be war with Holland immediately. I 
shall take Batavia, and tell the guns at Fort William 
to fire on the Bellona at once.' 

We all went out on elephants in the afternoon ; 
Captain A. (the Dutch captain and tutor), and Captain 
C, and all. The prince came on my elephant ; and 
we saw some beautiful mosques and ruins. Also, there 
are twenty native chiefs encamped about, who had 
come from a great distance to meet G. ; so there were 
quantities of strange sights for our guest. 

We march again on Monday, and I believe that F. 
and I shall go to Lucknow the week after next, from 
Cawnpore. 

This must go. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

Maharajpore, Wednesday, Dec. 20, 1837. 
I haye let three or four days slip by since my last 
immense J ournal started from Futtehpore. 

I had such a number of letters to answer in other 
directions, and then our young prince takes up much 
of my time, as everything here is new to him, 
and he seems surprised at the horses, camels, and 



UP THE COUNTKY. 51 

elephants, &c. He is continually asking if the car- 
riage will not be overturned, which is not an unnatural 
question, for the roads are so bad, the wonder is that it 
does not overturn constantly ; but a sailor would be 
able to jump out, and I dare say at his age he would 
rather like the carriage to be upset. 

The gentlemen all went off on a shooting expedition 
yesterday to Serajapore. F. and I stuck to the camp 
with great difficulty, for our horses, though we change 
every five miles, knocked up entirely. The sands are 
half-way up the wheels occasionally. 

G. shot for the first time from an elephant, which is 
considered very difficult, till people are accustomed to 
stand on its back, and he killed three hares and three 
quails. Mr. T. killed the only niel ghau that was 
seen, but altogether they were much pleased at having 
found anything. 

Cawnpore, Dec. 21. 

The prince was quite bent upon taking a sketch 
yesterday afternoon, as he saw us all sketching. All 
our elephants were tired with the long marches we 
have had the last two days. However, that attentive 
creature, i neighbour Oude,' sent us down six new 
ones this morning, so Gr. and I got on one, and put B. 
with the prince on another, P. on another by his side. 
We discovered a very pretty Hindu temple, and all 
set to work sketching. 

The prince got off his elephant because he said it 
shook him so, and he would have made a good picture, 
sitting in my tonjaun, with crowds of spearmen and 
bearers all round him ; B., who does not draw, in an 
attitude of resigned bore standing by him, and he, 

£ 2 



52 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



looking like a young George III. on a seven-shilling 
piece, peering up at the temple, and wondering how he 
was to begin. However, it amused him, and he has 
passed several hours since, touching it up. 

This morning we made one of our grand entries into 
Cawnpore, or rather on to it ; for there is no particular 
Cawnpore visible. But we drove over a miniature 
plain to our tents. 

F. , G., and all the gentlemen, even to Y., on his fat 
pony, rode in, and Prince Henry, his captain, P., and 
I came in the open carriage. We were met by tribes 
of officers, and there were two regiments of cavalry and 
two of infantry, and guns and bands, and altogether it 
was just the sight for a foreigner to see, and they 
seemed to like it accordingly. But we began by the 
four young horses in the carriage running restive. 
They either could not, or would not, draw the carriage 
over a bad pass, so at last I proposed that to save time 
we should take to our elephants, of which there were 
luckily several following us. 

Cawnpore, Saturday, Dec. 23. 

G. had his levee an hour after we arrived, and we 
had our party the same evening, for this is one of 
those dreadful large stations where there is not a 
chance of getting through all our duties if we lose an 
hour's time. 

It was lucky we had the large tent pitched, for there 
were between 200 and 300 people at our party. 
Luckily I thought a dance might be made out, which 
the Prince of Orange likes, and they had battened the 
floor of the tent till it was smooth ; so the dancing 
went on very well. 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



53 



It was the more essential, because, with every chair 
and sofa assembled from all the other tents, we could 
not make up a hundred seats, so it was necessary to 
keep part of the company constantly dancing. 

There were two or three old Calcutta faces, difficult 
to name, amongst the company, but it was easy to seem 
glad to see them and to say, 6 What ! are you here ? ' 
though I scorned myself for knowing that I had not an 
idea who f you ' was. I see it is one of those crowded 
stations where it is better not to fatigue a failing 
memory by any attempt at names. Thirty-five of 
them dined with us yesterday, but I am no wiser and 
no worse. Yesterday morning we went to a fancy sale, 
which had been put off for our advantage. We found 
it extremely difficult to get rid of the necessary sum of 
money, but by dint of buying frocks and pelisses and 
caps for all the little A.s and C.s and Y.s of the camp, 
it was finally accomplished. 

Monday (Christmas Day), Dec. 25. 

I must go back to my Journal, dearest ; but having 
just come from church, I must begin by wishing you 
and yours a great many happy Christmases. This is 
our third Christmas-day, so, however appearances are 
against it, time does really roll on. I don't know why, 
but I am particularly Indianly low to-day. There is 
such a horrid mixture of sights and sounds for Christ- 
mas. The servants have hung garlands at the doors of 
our tents, and (which is very wrong) my soul recoiled 
when they all assembled, and in their patois wished us, 
I suppose, a happy Christmas. 

Somehow a detestation of the Hindustani language 



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sounding all round us, came over me in a very inex- 
plicable manner. 

Then, though nothing could be better than the way 
in which Mr. Y. performed the service, still it was in a 
tent, and unnatural, and we were kneeling just where 
the Prince of Lucknow and his son, and their turbaned 
attendants, were sitting on Saturday at the durbar, 
and there was nobody except G. with whom I felt any 
real communion of heart and feelings. So, you see, I 
just cried for you and some others, and I daresay I 
shall be better after luncheon. 

To return to my journal. G. had a hard day's 
work on Saturday, and so had everybody. We gave a 
breakfast to the heir-apparent of Lucknow and to sixty 
people ; the utmost number we can accommodate. 

Four aides-de-camp went, at seven in the morning, 
all the way to his camp (five miles) to fetch him. "W. 
and Mr. P. met him half-way ; B. again, a mile off ; 
and then G., the Prince of Orange, and all the chief 
officers of station, at the end of our street. 

Each individual is on an elephant, and the shock at 
the meeting was very amusing. A great many how- 
dahs were broken, and it is a mercy that some of the 
people were not killed, for the Nawab scatters money 
as he goes along, and the natives get under the 
elephants to find it. G. and the Xawab embrace on 
meeting, and the visitor gets into the howdah of the 
visited, in which friendly fashion they arrived. 

F. and I had taken our places in the durbar tent on 
the left hand of his lordship, and Mrs. A. and Mrs. B. 
and Mrs. J. and Mrs. Y. behind us. We could not 
ask any of the ladies of the station, for want of room. 



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55 



The durbar and the speeches and compliments were 
all the same as usual, except that this is a real king's 
son, so that the presents that G. gave were really- 
handsome, and also he is the first native who has eaten 
with us. 

St. Cloup gave us a magnificent breakfast. G. 
sugared and creamed the Nawab's tea, and the Nawab 
gave him some pilau. Then he put a slice of buttered 
toast (rather cold and greasy) on one plate for me, and 
another for F., and B. said in an imposing tone, f His 
Royal Highness sends the Burra Lady this, and the 
Choota Lady that,' and we looked immeasurable grati- 
tude. At the end of breakfast, two hookahs were 
brought in, that the chiefs might smoke together, and 
a third for Colonel L., the British resident, that his 
consequence might be kept up in the eyes of the Luck- 
nowites, by showing that he is allowed to smoke at the 
Governor-General's table. The old khansamah wisely 
took care to put no tobacco in G.'s hookah, though it 
looked very grand and imposing with its snake and 
rose-water. G. says he was quite distressed; he 
could not persuade it to make the right kind of bub- 
bling noise. 

After breakfast we went back to the durbar, and the 
presents were given and dresses of honour to two 
of his suite, and altogether it was a two hours' business. 
However, it was really a fine sight, though tedious. 
I got Mr. D. to change places with me, and made an 
excellent sketch of this immensely fat prince with his 
pearls and emeralds and gold, and G. by his side. 
Prince Henry was charmed with the show, and said to 
Giles, who evidently possesses his confidence, ' I hope 



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the King of Lucknow shall give me presents, because 
I may keep them ; may you keep them, if you get 
any?' Giles said, ' No ; he was the Governor-Ge- 
neral's servant, and could not be allowed to keep 
presents.' i Oh ! say you are my servant, and then 
B. cannot touch your presents,' Prince Henry said. 
Giles told me the story with a grin of delight, and I 
could only say with FalstafF, ( He is indeed the most 
comparative, rascalliest, sweet young prince. Indeed, 
able to corrupt a saint.' 



CHAPTER IX. 

Ca^npore, Dec. 28, 1837. 
My Journal is in a bad way, actually extinguished by 
the quantity that I should have to put into it, if there 
were any writing time left. 

Tuesday morning the Prince of Oude returned our 
breakfast by one at his tents, which were pitched about 
five miles off. F. and I went in the carriage till the 
last minute, when we had to get on our elephants, but 
the other poor wretches had to come jolting along the 
whole way. The Prince of Oude's tents are very 
large, and he had asked the whole station, and with 
his quantity of troops and odd-looking attendants, it 
was a very curious sight, and he did it in a very 
gentlemanlike way. 

The presents were very magnificent. He had had 
two diamond combs made on purpose for F. and me, 
mounted in an European fashion. They are worth at 



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57 



least 1,5007. a-piece, and what distresses B. is, that 
they are of no use to give again, as natives can make 
no use whatever of them ; there were also two lovely 
pairs of earrings, a single uncut emerald drop, with one 
large diamond at the top, really beautiful stones, not 
those that are so common here, full of flaws. The 
trays of shawls were just as usual, but the jewels had 
been made up on purpose, and the Prince of Oude 
asked leave to show them to us himself, though it is 
the general and foolish custom to take no notice of what 
is given. 

This is the first time the presents have excited my 
cupidity. Not the combs — I am grown too old for a 
comb ; but those emerald earrings ! I should like 
them, should not you ? They will be sold probably at 
Delhi. 

Tuesday night the station gave us a ball and supper, 
and on Wednesday morning at eight, W., P., F., and 
I set off in two busbies, which took us down to a bridge 
of boats ; beyond that we found our elephants, who 
carried us over three miles of sand utterly impassable 
for a carriage, and then we came to the palanquin 
carriage. 

Our own twelve horses took us by stages of five 
miles to a tent of the King of Oude's, which he had 
had pitched for us, and where his cook had made a 
grand luncheon for us. Then three relays of his 
horses took us on to Lucknow. His postilions were 
dressed much like our own, and drove very toler- 
ably ; but the road was so awfully bad, we were shaken 
about the carriage most uncomfortably and covered 
with dust. I felt so like Madame Duval in Evelina, 



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after the captain had shaken her and rolled her in the 
ditch. The king sent guards for us all the way, such 
beautiful figures ! all scarlet and green, with brass 
basons on their heads, and shields and spears. Just 
as we came to the town, we passed the Prince of 
Orange, Captain A., Captain K., M., and Giles still 
in their palanquins, though they had gone ofi° from the 
ball the night before. 

The residence is a fine house, not much furnished, 
but there is a beautiful view from the window, which 
is uncommon in this country. 

We found Rosina and Myra perfectly miserable. 
They had arrived with all our goods and all our men- 
servants two days before, and somehow had been par- 
ticularly helpless, and had not found out where to get 
their food. Myra, F.'s ayah, is a Portuguese, and can 
eat anything, and dines after our servants ; but Rosina, 
being a Mussulmaunee, can only eat certain things, 
and they must be cooked in a brass pot called a 
6 lotah ; ' and Major J. had told her not to bring her 
6 lotah,' for at the residence they would find everything 
cooked by Mussulmauns. So she and Myra had wisely 
sat and cried, instead of going to the bazaar and 
buying what they wanted. However, the instant we 
came, they were satisfied they would not be murdered 
or starved, and they proved themselves excellent ladies' 
maids. 

We set off early on Wednesday morning in two of 
the king's carriages, and saw the tombs of Saadut Ali 
and his wife. A very fine building, but the wife is 
not allowed any little tops to the cupola of her tomb, 
which is mean. Then to ( Constantia,' a sort of castle 



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59 



in a fine jungly park, built by an old General La 
Martine, who came out to India a private soldier, and 
died worth more than a million. I wish we had come 
out in those days. 

He left his house at Constantia to the public. Any 
European in want of change of air might go with his 
family and live there for a month, and beyond the 
month, unless another family wanted it. This would 
be a great convenience to the few English in Oude, 
particularly to poor officers ; so of course, for thirty 
years, the Supreme Court has been doubting whe- 
ther the will meant what it said it meant, and the 
house has been going to decay ; but it is now de- 
cided that people may live there, and it is all to be 
repaired. 

Then we went to Dilkushar, a country palace of 
the king's, very pretty, and then to a tomb of a former 
king, where there are silver tigers as large as life, a 
silver fish, a silver mosque, and all sorts of curiosities, 
and priests who read the Koran night and day. Then 
we came home to breakfast and to rest, and the gentle- 
men went to the prison to see some Thugs. 

You have heard about them before, a respectable 
body of many thousand individuals, who consider it a 
point of religion to inveigle and murder travellers, 
which they do so neatly that c Thuggee ' had prospered 
for 2,000 years before it was discovered. 

A Captain G. here is one of its great persecutors 
officially, but by dint of living with Thugs he has evi- 
dently grown rather fond of them, and has acquired a 
latent taste for strangling. One of the Thugs in the 
prison told the gentlemen : e I have killed three hun- 



(30 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



dred people since I began ; ' and another said, c I have 
killed only eighty myself, but my father has done much 
more.' 

Then they acted over amongst themselves a scene of 
Thuggee. Some of them pretended to be travellers, 
and the others joined them and nattered them, and 
asked them to sit down and smoke, and ther* pointed 
up to the sun, or a bird ; and when the traveller looked 
up, the noose was round his neck in an instant, and of 
course, as a real traveller, he would have been buried 
in five minutes. 

Then they threw the noose over one of Colonel L.'s 
surwars who was cantering by, just to show him how 
they could have strangled him. I think it is a great 
shame allowing them to repeat their parts, but they 
really believe they have only done their duty. They 
say they would not steal from a house, or a tent, but 
they have a profession of their own, and all these men 
regret very much that they cannot teach their sons to 
walk in the right way. 

In the afternoon we went to see the Emaunberra 
and Rooma Durwanee, two of the most magnificent 
native buildings I have seen yet. About a week of 
hard sketching would have been really pleasant 
amongst them, and we had only half-an-hour. How- 
ever, we saw a great deal for the time, and we are 
uncommonly lucky in our weather. It is just right, a 
sort of spring afternoon ; very pleasant. 

Friday morning we set off in great state to see 
Mr. B. (who has come in G.'s place) ; meet the Prince 
of Lucknow. It was much the same meeting as that 
at Cawnpore; but the prince gave us afterwards a 



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61 



breakfast in the palace, which we wanted to see very 
much, and which was quite as Arabian- Nightish as I * 
meant it to be. 

The throne is gold, with its canopy and umbrella 
and pillars covered with cloth of gold, embroidered in 
pearls and small rubies. Our fat friend the prince 
was dressed to match his throne. All his brothers, 
twenty at least, appeared too — rather ill-conditioned 
young gentlemen ; and there were jugglers and nautch- 
girls and musicians, all working at their vocations 
during breakfast. 

The late king drank himself to death about six 
months ago ; and then there was a sort of revolution 
conducted by Colonel L. (who was nearly killed in this 
palace), by which the present king was placed on the 
throne ; so these are early days for acting royalty. 
Mr. B. went in to the old king, who is nearly bed- 
ridden, and he said he was quite affected by the old 
man. He translated to him G.'s letter, in which G. 
said how much he had been pleased with his heir- 
apparent's manner, and the old king looked up, and 
held out his hand to his son, who rose and salaamed 
down to the ground three times. Mr. B., who is 
almost a native in language, and knows them 
thoroughly, said he was quite touched ; it is so seldom 
natives show any emotion of that kind. 

There was a fight of wild beasts after breakfast, 
elephants, rhinoceroses, rams, &c, but we excused 
ourselves, as there often are accidents at these fights. 
The gentlemen all went, and so did Giles, and they 
were quite delighted, and said we ought to have 
seen it. 



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In the afternoon we went to see the king's yacht, 
which he had decked out for us, and then his garden. 
Such a place ! the only residence I have coveted in 
India. Don't you remember where in the ( Arabian 
Niffhts.' Zobeide bets her ( garden of delights ' against 
the Caliph's ( palace of pictures ? ' I am sure this was 
' the garden of delights ! ' 

There are four small palaces in it, fitted up in the 
eastern way, with velvet and gold and marble, with 
arabesque ceilings, orange trees and roses in all direc- 
tions, with quantities of wild parroquets of bright 
colours glancing about. And in one palace there was 
an immense bath-room of white marble, the arches 
intersecting each other in all directions, and the marble 
inlaid with cornelian and bloodstone ; and in every 
corner of the palace there were little fountains ; even 
during the hot winds, they say, it is cool from the 
quantity of water playing ; and in the verandah there 
were fifty trays of fruits and flowers laid out for us, — 
by which the servants profited. It was really a very 
pretty sight. Then we went to the stud where the 
horses were displayed ; the most curious was a Cutch 
horse (Cutch is, I opine, the name of a particular dis- 
trict, but I never ask questions, I hate information). He 
looked as if he had had a saddle of mutton cut out of 
his back. They said he was very easy to ride, but apt 
to stumble. 

There was to have been a return breakfast to the 
heir-apparent at Colonel L.'s on Saturday morning, 
but that would have made our journey back very late ; 
so it was commuted for some fireworks in the evening. 
We went back to the palace after dinner, or rather to 



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63 



another palace on the river. On the opposite bank 
there was an illumination in immense letters, ( God 
save George Lord Auckland, Governor-General of 
India,' ' God save the King of Oude,' and then there 
was a full stop, and ( Colonel L., Resident of Luck- 
now,' stood alone. Whether he was to be saved or not 
was not mentioned ; it was not very correctly spelt, 
but well-meant. My jemadar asked me afterwards, 
6 Did Ladyship see " God save my Lord ? " I thought 
it very excellent, very neat.' The river was covered 
with rafts full of fireworks, and the boats in front were 
loaded with nautch-girls, who dance on, whether they 
are looked at or not. The Prince of Orange was 
charmed with his evening. 



CHAPTER X. 

Ca-vmpore, New Year's Day, 1838. 

Another year ! You will be nearly half through 
it by the time you read this. 

I was so obliged to you for those extracts from 
Charles Lamb. I had seen that about the two hemi- 
spheres in some newspaper, and have been longing for 
the book ever since. 

i Boz's Magazine ' is disappointing. I wish he would 
not mix up his great Pickwick name with meaner works. 
It is odd how long you were writing about Pickwick, 
and yet I felt all the time, though we are no judges 
of fun in this place, that it must be everywhere the 
cleverest thing that has appeared in our time. I had 



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laughed twenty times at that book. Then there is 
always a quotation to be had from Pickwick for every- 
thing that occurs anywhere. 

That Mr. Q., of , who has been living with us 

for a month, and who admires Chance, as a clever 
demon, but is afraid of him, always says, if Chance goes 
near him at dessert : — f Bring some cake directly ! good 
old Chance ! good little dog ! the cake is coming,' so 
like Pickwick and his e good old horse.' 

We returned from Lucknow on Saturday, with no 
accident but that of breaking the dicky ; which, con- 
sidering the state of the roads, was marvellous. I 
never felt such jolting, and it was very hot in the mid- 
dle of the day ; and G., who does not believe in fatigue, 
had asked five-and-twenty people to dinner. 

We parted with the Prince of Orange at Lucknow, 
which is something saved in point of trouble. He has 
liked his visit, I fancy, though it did not excite him 
much. 

The dust at Cawnpore has been quite dreadful the 
last two days. People lose their way on the plains, 
and everything is full of dust — books, dinner, clothes, 
everything. We all detest Cawnpore. It is here, too, 
that we first came into the starving districts. They 
have had no rain for a year and a half; the cattle 
all died, and the people are all dying or gone 
away. 

They are employed here by Government ; every man, 
woman, or child, who likes to do the semblance of a 
day's work is paid for it, and there is a subscription for 
feeding those who are unable to work at all. But many 
who come from a great distance die of the first food 



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65 



they touch. There are as many as twenty found dead 
on the plain in the morning. 

Powrah, Thursday, Jan. 4. 

We left Cawnpore on Tuesday, and now that we are 
out of reach of the District Societies, &c, } the distress 
is perfectly dreadful. 

You cannot conceive the horrible sights we see, par- 
ticularly children ; perfect skeletons in many cases, 
their bones through their skin, without a rag of clothing, 
and utterly unlike human creatures. Our camp luckily 
does more good than harm. We get all our supplies 
from Oude, and we can give away more than any other 
travellers. 

We began yesterday giving food away in the even- 
ing ; there were about 200 people, and Giles and the 
old khansamah distributed it, and I went with Major J. 
to see them, but I could not stay. We can do no more 
than give what we do, and the sight is much too shock- 
ing. The women look as if they had been buried, their 
skulls look so dreadful. 

I am sure there is no sort of violent atrocity I should 
not commit for food, with a starving baby. I should 
not stop to think about the rights or wrongs of the 
case. 

As usual, dear Shakspeare knew all about it. He 
must have been at Cawnpore at the time of a famine — 

Famine is in thy cheeks, 
Need and oppression startle in thine eyes, 
The world is not thy friend, nor the world's law. 
Then be not poor, hut break it. 

G. and I walked down to the stables this morning 

F 



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before breakfast, and found such a miserable little baby, 
something like an old monkey, but with glazed, stupid 
eyes, under the care of another little wretch of six years 
old. I am sure you would have sobbed to see the way 
in which the little atom flew at a cup of milk, and the 
way in which the little brother fed it. Kosina has dis- 
covered the mother since, but she is a skeleton too, and 
she savs for a month she has had no food to on ve it. Dr. 
D. says it cannot live, it is so diseased with starvation, 
but I mean to try what can be done for it. 

Kynonze, Sunday, Jan. 7. 

We go on from bad to worse ; this is a large village, 
and the distress greater. Seven hundred were fed yes- 
terday, and the struggle was so violent that I have just 

seen the magistrate, Mr. , who is travelling with 

us, and asked him for his police. We have plenty of 
soldiers and servants, but they hardly know what to 
do ; they cannot strike the poor creatures, and yet they 
absolutely fight among themselves for the food. Captain 
M. saw three people drop down dead in the village 
yesterday, and there were several on our line of march. 
My baby is alive, the mother follows the camp, and I 
have it four times a day at the back of my tent, and 
feed it. It is rather touching to see the interest the 
servants take in it, though there are worse objects about, 
or else I have got used to this little creature. 

This is a great place for ruins, and was supposed to 
be the largest town in India in the olden time, and the 
most magnificent. There are some good ruins for 
sketching remaining, and that is all. An odd world 
certainly ! Perhaps two thousand years hence, when 



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67 



the art of steam has been forgotten, and nobody can 
exactly make out the meaning of the old English word 
c mail-coach,' some black Governor-General of England 
will be marching through its southern provinces, and 
will go and look at some ruins, and doubt whether 
London ever was a large town, and will feed some 
white-looking skeletons, and say what distress the poor 
creatures must be in ; they will really eat rice and 
curry ; and his sister will write to her Mary D. at New 
Delhi, and complain of the cold, and explain to her with 
great care what snow is, and how the natives wear bon- 
nets, and then, of course, mention that she wants to go 
home. Do you like writing to me? I hate writing 
in general, but these long letters to you are the comfort 
of my existence. I always have my portfolio carried 
on in my palanquin, which comes on early, because 
then, if I have anything to say to you before breakfast, 
I can say it, and I dare say it would be unwholesome 
to suppress a thought before breakfast. 

Camp, Umreetpoor, Saturday, Jan. 13. 

We have had three days' rest at Futtehghur ; rest at 
least for the horses and bullocks, who were all worn 
out with the bad roads, and we started again this morn- 
ing ; crossed the Ganges on a bridge of boats, and after 
five miles of very remarkably heavy sand, with hackeries 
and dying ponies, and obstinate mules sticking in it, in 
all directions, we came to a road available again for the 
dear open carriage and for horses. The others all rode, 
and I brought on Mrs. A., who has no carriage, and who 
gets tired to death of her palanquin and elephant. 

G. and I went with Y., Dr. D., and A. and M. one 
F 2 



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morning before breakfast to see a Dr. , who is sup- 
posed to be very scientific, but his science seems rather 
insane. He insists upon it that the North Pole is at 
Grwalior, about thirty miles from here, and that some 
magnetic stones he brought from there prove it by the 
direction in which the needle stands on them. One 
needle would not stand straight on one stone, and he 
said that stone must have been picked up a little on one 
side of the exact North Pole. Then he took us to a 
table covered with black and white little bricks, some- 
thing like those we used to have in the nursery, and he 
said that by a course of magnetic angles, the marks of 
which he discovers on his magnetic stones, any piece of 
wood that was cut by his directions became immediately 
an exact representation of Solomon's Temple. 

( Don't say it is ingenious ! I can't help it ; it is the 
work of magnetic power, not mine; Solomon's Temple 
will fall out of whatever I undertake.' 

I looked at G. and the others, but they all seemed 
quite convinced, and I began to think we must all be 
in a Futtehghur Bedlam, only they were all too silent. 
To fill up the pause, I asked him how long he was dis- 
covering Solomon's Temple. c Only seven years,' he 
said, e but it is not my discovery ; it must be so accord- 
ing to my magnetic angles. When this discovery 
reaches Europe (which it will through you, ma'am, for 
I am going to present you with Solomon's Temple), 
there will be an end of all their science ; they must 
begin again.' 

Then Mrs. put in : ( Yes, the Doctor said, as 

soon as he heard you were coming up the country, 
" 111 give Solomon's Temple to Miss Eden ;" and I 



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69 



said, " I shall send her some flowers and water-cresses;" 
pray, are you fond of water-cresses ? ' 

* Now, my dear, don't talk about water-cresses ; you 
distract Miss Eden and you distract me, and so hold 
your tongue. I was just going to explain this cube ; 
you see the temple was finished all but one cube, and 
the masons did not like the look of the stone, they did 
not understand the magnetic angles, so they gave it a 
knock and smashed it. Upon which Solomon said, 
" There ! what a precious mess you have made of it ; 
now I shall have to send all the way to Egypt for 
another." ' 

Upon which Mr. Y. said, tf But where do you find 
that fact, Dr. ?' 

6 My dear sir, just take it for granted; I never ad- 
vance a fact I cannot prove. I am like the old woman 
in Westminster Abbey ; if you interrupt me, I shall 
have to go back from George III. all the way to 
Edward the Confessor.' 

That silenced us all. You never saw such a thing 
as Solomon's Temple ; not nearly so pretty as the 
bridges we used to build of those bricks. 

Mrs. went fidgetting about with some bottles all 

the time, and began, 6 Now, Doctor, show your method 
of instantaneous communication between London and 
Edinburgh.' 

' Don't bore me, my dear, I have not time to pre- 
pare it.' 

' There now, Doctor ! I knew you would say that, so 
I have prepared it ; there it all is, bottles, wire, gal- 
vanic wheels and all. Now, Miss Eden, is not he much 
the cleverest man you ever saw ? ' So then he showed 



70 



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us that experiment, and a great many of his galvanic 
tricks were very amusing, but still he is so eccentric 
that I think it is a great shame he should be the only 
doctor of a large station. A lady sent for him to see 
her child in a fit, and he told her he would not give it 
any medicine on any account ; e it was possessed by the 
devil — a very curious case indeed.' 

He sent me a bit of the Gwalior Xorth Pole in the 
evening, which was such a weight I thought I should 
have to hire a coolie to carry it, and I wanted the ser- 
vants to burv it, but luckilv C. was lonoino- for one of 
these magnetic stones, and took it. To-day I have had 
a letter from him, with fruit and flowers which Mrs. 

sent fifteen miles, and a jonquil in a blue glass, 

English and good, and a postscript to say that, though 
Solomon's Temple would build itself almost without 
any help, still, if I found any difficulty I was to write 
to him. I am quite sure I shall never find the slightest 
difficulty in it — it is all carefully deposited at the bottom 
of a camel trunk. 



CHAPTER XL 

Juttygunge, Jan. 17, 1838. 
We have had a Sunday halt, and some bad roads, and 
one desperate long march. A great many of the men 
here have lived in the jungles for years, and their poor 
dear manners are utterly gone — jungled out of them. 
Luckily the band plays all through dinner, and 



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71 



drowns the conversation. The thing they all like best 
is the band, and it was an excellent idea, that of making 
it play from five to six. There was a lady yesterday 
in perfect ecstasies with the music. I believe she was 
the wife of an indigo planter in the neighbourhood, and 
I was rather longing to go and speak to her, as she 
probably had not met a countrywoman for many 
months ; but then, you know, she might not have been 
his wife, or anybody's wife, or he might not be an 
indigo planter. In short, my dear Mrs. D., you know 
w T hat a world it is — impossible to be too careful, &c. 

We never stir out now from the camp ; there is no- 
thing to see, and the dust is a little laid just in front of 
our tents. We have had a beautiful subject for drawing 
the last two days. A troop of irregular horse joined 
us at Futtehghur. The officer, a Russaldar — a sort of 
sergeant, I believe — wears a most picturesque dress, 
and has an air of Timour the Tartar, with a touch of 
Alexander the Great — and he comes and sits for his 
picture with great patience. All these irregular troops 
are like parts of a melodrama. They go about curvet- 
ting and spearing, and dress themselves fancifully, and 
they are most courteous-mannered natives. G. and I 
walked up to their encampment on Sunday. 

They had no particular costume when first we came 
in sight, being occupied in cleaning their horses — and 
the natives think nature never intended that they should 
work with clothes on ; but they heard G. was coming, 
and by the time we arrived they were all scarlet and 
silver and feathers — such odd, fanciful dresses ; and 
the Russaldar and his officers brought their swords 
that we might touch them, and we walked through 



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their lines. My jemadar interpreted that the Lord 
Sahib and Lady Sahib never saw such fine men, or 
such fine horses, and they all salaamed down to the 
ground. An hour after, this man and his attendant 
rode up to W.'s tent (they are under him in his military 
secretary capacity) to report that they certainly were 
the finest troops in the world — the Lord Sahib had 
said so ; and they begged also to mention that they 
should be very glad to have their pictures drawn. So 
the chief man has come for his, and is quite satisfied 
with it. 

Bareilly, Saturday, Jan. 20. 

This is one of our long halts : we are to be here till 
Tuesday. Yesterday we halted at Furreedpoor, where 
there was an excellent plain for the native horse to 
show off their manner of fighting, and we all went out 
in the evening to see them. They stick a tent-pin in 
the ground, drive it in with mallets, and then going 
full gallop drive a spear in it and draw it out again. 
They drop their bridles when the horse is going at his 
utmost speed, and then suddenly turn round in the 
saddle and fire at their pursuers. Then they tilt at 
each other, turning their horses round in a space not 
much more than their own lengths. Walter Scott 
would have made some fine chapters out of them, and 
Astley would hang himself from the total impossibility 
of dressing and acting like them. 

The only other incident of the day was a trial hy rice 
of all my servants. I had ten rupees in small money 
— coins worth little more than sixpence each — which 
I got in the distressed districts to give to any beggars 
that looked starving. I had a packet of them unopened, 



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73 



the last the sircar had given me, sealed with his seal, 
and I put this in my workbasket on the table. One 
of the servants very cleverly took it out. It was not 
loose money lying about: I. consider they have almost 
a right to take that : but this was sealed up and hid ; 
so J. made a great fuss about it, and when all enquiries 
failed, he and Captain D., who manages the police of 
the camp, said they must try the common experiment 
of eating rice. The priest weighs out so much rice 
powder according to the weight of a particular rupee, 
an old coin which the natives look upon as sacred. 
The men all say their prayers and wash themselves, 
and then they each take their share of rice. It is not 
a nice experiment. Those who are innocent spit it out 
again in a liquid state, but the guilty man is not able 
to liquefy it in the slightest degree. 

J. came in with an air of conviction. e Well ! we 
have found the thief: the last man you would have 
suspected — your chobdar.' He is a sort of upper ser- 
vant next in rank to the jemadar, and this man is a 
remarkably respectable creature, and, though still 
young, has been fifteen years at Government House — 
ever since he was twelve years old. The poor wretch 
came in immediately after, his mouth still covered with 
flour : he had not been able even to touch it, but he 
protested his innocence, and I believe in it. He is 
naturally very timid, and always trembles if anybody 
speaks quickly to him, and he might have robbed me 
at any time of any trinkets, or money, as he always 
takes charge of my room, or tent, when the jemadar is 
away. I am so sorry for him, he was in such an agony; 
but, luckily, it would have been impossible to send a 



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man away merely on that sort of evidence, and to-day 
all the others have come round to him and say they are 
sure it was not him, for they all think too well of him. 
Yesterday they were glad to put it on anybody, and 
they have all great faith in the trial. It is very odd ; 
twenty-two took the rice without the slightest reluc- 
tance, yet this man could not touch it. 

Rosina told me that Ameer, my little boy, said to 
her, e It must be the chobdar, Rosina. What for he 
shake so and not eat rice ? Me eat my rice directly ; 
me have nothing in my heart against ladyship ; me 
never take none of her money ; me eat rice for lady- 
ship any day.' I never shall let them do it again, but 
it was done to satisfy them this time. In general the 
poor dry victim confesses directly. 

Bareilly is famous for dust and workboxes. The 
dust we have seen, but the boxes have not yet ap- 
peared. 

There has been some quarrel about our encamping 
ground. Captain P. put the tents in the right place, 
and the Brigadier said it was the wrong one, and 
had them moved again, and put between two dusty 
roads ; and now we again say that is quite wrong, and 
that we will be on the Brigadier's parade ground ; so 
last night's camp, when it came up, was pitched there 
and with much dignity, but with a great deal of trouble 
in moving all our goods and ourselves. It was quite 
as bad as two marches in one day ; but then, you know, 
we could not stand the idea of Brigadier pre- 
suming to interfere with the Governor-General's 
camp. 

The thieves at Bareilly are well educated, and pil- 



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75 



fered quantities of things in the move. Still, Brigadier 

■ had the worst of it ! 

This is the most absurd country. Captain N. has a 
pet monkey, small and black, with a long white beard, 
and it sits at the door of his tent. It had not been here 
an hour when the durwar and the elders of the village 
came on deputation to say that it was the first of that 
species which had ever been at Bareilly, and they begged 
to take it to their temple to worship it. He did not 
much like trusting it out of sight, but it was one of the 
requests that cannot be refused, so 6 Hunamaun ' set 
off in great state with one of N.'s bearers to watch him. 
He came back extremely excited and more snappish 
than ever. The bearer said the priests carried the 
monkey into a temple, but would not let him go too. 
I suspect if N. washed the returned monkey, he would 
find the black come off. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Bareilly, Monday, Jan. 22, 1838. 

We were ( at home ' on Friday evening. There are 
ten ladies at this station, several of them very pretty, 
and with our own ladies there were enough for a quad- 
rille ; so they danced all the evening, and it went off 
very well. 

There are two officers (Europeans) who command 
that corps of irregular horse, and dress like natives, 
with green velvet tunics, scarlet satin trousers, white 



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boots, bare throats, long beards, and everything most 
theatrical. It does tolerably well for the young 
adjutant, who is good-looking ; but the major, who 
commanded the regiment, would look better with a 
neck-cloth and a tight coat. He doats on his wild 
horsemen. 

He says the officers come to him every morning, 
and sit down round him, and show him their Persian 
letters, and take his orders, just as children would ; 
and to-day, when they were all assembled, they had 
been reading our Hussaldar's account of how well he 
had shown off all his exercises, and how I had drawn 
his picture, and how G. had given him a pair of shawls 
and some spears, &c. Just as they were reading this, 
the man himself arrived, and the others all got up and 
embraced him, and thanked him for keeping up the 
honour of the corps. They seem to be something like 
the Highlanders in their way. 

The regiment is made up of families. Each Hus- 
saldar has at least six sons or nephews in his troop. 
They are never punished, but sent away if they 
commit any fault; and they will do anything for their 
chief if their prejudices of caste are respected. But 
there have been some horrible tragedies lately, where 
young officers have come out with their St. James's 
Street notions of making these men dress like European 
soldiers. 

Amongst other things, one young officer persuaded 
his uncle, a Colonel E., to order them to cut off their 
beards — a much greater offence than pulling all their 
noses. The men had idolised this Colonel E., but the 
instant they heard this order, they drew their swords 



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77 



and cut him to pieces. There was great difficulty in 
bringing the regiment into any order again. 

We had a great dinner (only men) on Saturday. 
Now G. has established that F. and I are to dine at 
these men dinners ; he likes them best, and in the short 
halts it is the only way in which he can see all the 
civilians and officers. They are neither more, nor less, 
tiresome to us than mixed dinners. The gentlemen 
talk a great deal of Vizier Ali and of Lord Cornwallis, 
and the ladies do not talk at all : and I don't know 
which I like best. 

The thing that chiefly interests me is to hear the 
details of the horrible solitude in which the poor young 
civilians live. There is a Mr. G. here, whom H. 
recommended to us, who is quite mad with delight at 
being with the camp for a week. We knew him very 
well in Calcutta. He says the horror of being three 
months without seeing an European, or hearing an 
English word, nobody can tell. Captain N. has led 
that sort of life in the jungles too, and says that, 
towards the end of the rainy season, when the health 
generally gives way, the lowness of spirits that comes 
on is quite dreadful ; that every young man fancies he is 
going to die, and then he thinks that nobody will bury 
him if he does, as there is no other European at 
hand. Never send a son to India ! my dear M., that 
is the moral. 

The civilians gave us a dinner on Monday, which 
went off better than those ceremonies usually do. 

It was at the house of an old Mr. W., who has been 
forty-eight years in India, and whose memory has 
failed. He asked me if I had seen the house at 



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Benares where i poor Davies ' was so nearly murdered 
by f Futty Rum,' or some name of that kind, and he 
seemed surprised, and went on describing how Mrs. 
Davies had gone to the top of the house and said — 
c My dear ! I see some dust in the distance,' just like 
Bluebeard's wife ; and I kept thinking of that, and 
wondering that I had not seen the house, and at last I 
thought it must have happened since we left Benares, 
so I asked, at last, ( But when did this take place ? ' 

c Why, let me see. I was at Calcutta in '90 ; it 
must have been in '91, or thereabouts.' 

It was the most modern topic he tried. Mrs. W. 
has been thirty-seven years in India, and is a wonder- 
ful-looking woman. Our band came, and after dinner 
there was a great whispering amongst the seven ladies 
and forty gentlemen, and it turned out they were long- 
ing for a little more dancing ; so the band played some 
quadrilles, and by dint of one couple dancing first on 
one side of the room and then on the other, they made 
it out very well, and it was rather a lively evening. 

Camp, Jan. 26. 

My own dearest Mary — I sent off another Journal to 
you yesterday. I think you ought to have a very 
regular supply of letters from me. I never am more 
than a fortnight now without sending one off. And 
such enormous packets too ! Such fine fat children ! 
not wholesome fat, only Indian, but they look puny 
and large. We are at a place which in their little easy 
way they call Kamovrowdamovrow — how it is spelt 
really I cannot say, but that is the short way of 
expressing the sound. We have our first view of the 



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79 



mountain to-day ; so lovely — a nice dark-blue hard 
line above the horizon, and then a second series of 
snowy peaks, looking quite pink when the sun rises. 
We always travel half-an-hour by torchlight, so that 
we have the full benefit of the sun rising. The air is 
so nice to-day — I think it smells of mountains. The 
highest peak we see is the Gumgoutra, from which the 
Ganges is supposed to flow, and consequently the 
Gumgoutra is idolised by the natives. It was so like 
P., who by dint of studying Indian antiquities, be- 
lieves, I almost think, in all the superstitions of the 
country. We were lamenting that we should lose the 
sight of these mountains in two more marches ; but 
then we should be on our way to Simla. 4 Oh, Simla ! ' 
he said, e what of that ? There is no real historical 
interest about that. Simla is a mere modern vulgar 
mountain. I had as lief be in the plain.' Poor 
Simla ! which has stood there, looking beautiful, since 
the world began, to be termed a mere modern moun- 
tain ; made of lath and plaster, I suppose. Our 
marching troubles increase every day. I wish we 
were at Simla. The roads are so infernally bad — I 
beg your pardon, but there is no other word for it. 
Those who ride can make it out pretty well, and I 
would begin again, only it tires me so that I cannot 
sit on the horse ; but the riders can always find a 
tolerable path by the side. The road itself is very 
heavy sand with deep holes, and cut up into ditches by 
the hackeries that go on the night before. Our old 
horses bear it very well, but it has broken the hearts 
and tempers of the six young ones we got last year 
from the stud, and there is no sort of trick they don't 



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play. Yesterday I nearly killed Mrs. A. by the ex- 
cessive politeness with which I insisted on bringing her 
the last stage. Two horses kicked themselves out of 
their traces, and nearly overturned the carriage, and 
we plodded on with a pair ; however, she is not the 
worse for it. Tins morning, before F. and G. left the 
carriage, one of the leaders, in a fit of exasperation, 
threw himself over the other leader and the postilion ; 
of course they all three came down, but luckily neither 
man nor horses were hurt ; but the carriage could 
not come on, so we all got on some elephants, which 
were luckily close at hand. They took us two miles, 
and by the time mine, which was a baggage elephant, 
had jolted me into very small pieces, we came to fresh 
horses. C. and G. rode on, and I sat down on the 
ground by a fire of dry grass, which the syces and 
bearers had made for themselves. I longed very much 
for an inn, or an English waiter, or anything, or any- 
body ; but otherwise it was amusing to see the camp 
roll by — the Baboos in their palanquins, Mr. C.'s 
children in a bullock carriage, Mr. B.'s clerks riding 
like sacks, on rough ponies, with their hats on over 
their nightcaps ; then the Artillery, with the horses all 
kicking. W. O. came up to me and sent back 
one of the guards to fetch up the carriage, and he 
always sets to work with his old regimental habits, and 
buckles the harness himself, and sets the thing off. 
His horse had run away with him for three miles, and 
then he ran away with it for six more, and now he 
hopes they will do better. G. is gone to-day to 
return the visit of the Nawab of Rampore, who lives 
four miles oif, and he has had to recross the river. 



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81 



which makes rather a melancholy addition to the 
fatigues of men and cattle. G. has set up for his pet a 
hideous pariah dog, one amongst the many that follow 
a camp ; but this has particularly pretty manners, 
coaxing and intelligent, and Gr. says he thinks it will 
keep the other pets out of his tent. Chance, and F.'s 
lemur, W.'s greyhounds, and Dr. D.'s dog are always 
running through his tent, so he has set up this, not 
that it really ever can go into his tent, it is much too 
dirty, but we call it out of compliment to the Company 
6 the Hon. John,' and it answers to its name quite 
readily. 

Moradabad, Saturday, Jan. 27. 

Another station, where we are to stay for three days; 
but the travelling was worse than ever. I told W. 0. 
last night I should walk, and he said he should hop, he 
had tried everything else. It will be my last resource 
too. The first stage did pretty well. I have set up 
Webb to ride by me when the others ride on, and he 
can direct his own postilions. He does not look the 
least like a head-coachman, or like the Sergeant Webb 
which he is — rather like a ruffian in a melodrama ; but 
he is very civil, and by dint of encouragement and 
example, got the horses through a mile of deep sand, 
down to the river-side. We passed about fifty hack- 
eries stuck fast, and there they and the oxen probably 
are now. The Y.s, be the road bad or good, always 
come to a misfortune. Yesterday they broke the 
spring of their dickey ; to-day they had to harness an 
elephant to their carriage to pull it out of the sand ; and 
long after we had breakfasted we saw the eldest boy 
arrive on foot, with one of Mrs. A.'s hirkarus, Mrs. Y. 

Gr 



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and the little thing on one of our elephants, and Y. 
mounted on his own box, nourishing; on with his tired 
horses. Our carriage crossed the ford very well, 
though the water was up to the steps, and when we 
had landed I said to Webb I thought we had better 
wait for Miss F., as the march was longer than we 
expected. He always speaks so like our old nurse 
Spencer : 1 Lord bless me, Miss Eden, we must not 
think of Miss F. ; if the horses once stop in this sand, 
they will never stir again. Go on, coachmen. I think, 
Miss Eden, my Lord and Miss F. will make a bad job 
of this ford. I saw Lord William, that time he and I 
came up the country, up to his middle in water at this 
place, though he was on a tall English horse. Drive on ! ' 
We proceeded another mile into the town, and then 
the horses went entirely mad, partly because the 
narrow street was full of camels, and partly from 
fatigue. Webb and the guards cleared off the camels, 
but the horses would not be quiet, so I got out and 
walked. There were immense crowds of natives wait- 
ing to see Gr.'s entry, but they are always very civil, 
and indeed must have been struck with the majesty of 
my procession — Webb with his long hunting-whip and 
Squire Bugle look, me in my dusty brown cloak and 
bonnet, over a dressing-gown, the ( Hon. John ' frisk- 
ing and whining after me with a marked pariah ap- 
pearance, an old jemadar of Gr.'s, with a great sheet 
twisted over his turban to keep out the cold of the 
morning ; then the carriages with the horses all kick- 
ing, and the syces all clinging to them, and Giles 
and Mars in the distance, each in a horrid fright 
about their ponies. I walked at least a mile and a half, 



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83 



and then met Captain C. riding out to meet us. 'What 
accident has happened now ? ' he said. ( Nothing par- 
ticular,' I said, 6 I am only marching.' He turned 
back and walked with me to the end of the town, and 
then the horses behaved pretty well through all the 
saluting and drumming, and our entry was made cor- 
rectly ; but I had no idea that I could have walked a 
mile and a half without dropping down dead. That is 
something learnt. We had all the station to dinner. 
There were only twenty-five of them altogether, and 
only two ladies. The band could not play at dinner, 
which is always a sad loss, as they cover all pauses, 
but their instruments and uniforms had stuck in the 
sands. Luckily there was a young Mr. J., the image 
of Lord Castlereagh, who talked unceasingly all 
through dinner. Another of the civilians here is 
Mr. B. O., son of the Mr. O. you know. He was 
probably the good-looking stepson whose picture Mrs. 
O. used to carry about with her, because he was such 
a 'beautiful creature.' He is now a bald-headed, grey, 
toothless man, and perfectly ignorant on all points but 
that of tiger-hunting. There is not a day that I do 
not think of those dear lines of Crabbe's — 

But when returned the youth ? The youth no more 

Returned exulting to his native shore ; 

But in his stead there came a worn-out man. 

They were always good lines, and always had a 
tendency to bring tears into my eyes ; but now, when I 
look at either the youth or the worn-out men, and think 
what India does for them all, I really could not ven- 
ture to say those lines out loud. Please to remember 
that I shall return a worn-out woman. 

G 2 



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Moradabad, Monday, Jan. 29. 

Mr. Y. gave us such an excellent sermon yesterdav. 
The residents here only see a clergyman once a year, 
so I am glad they had a good sermon, and they all 
seemed pleased with it. Captain N. was taken ill at 
church — the second time it has happened — and Dr. D. 
was obliged to go out with him and bleed him. He 
looks very strong, but they say nobody ever really 
recovers a real bad jungle-fever. TTe all went out on 
the elephants, but there is not much to see at Mora- 
dabad, though it is a cheerful-looking station. Mrs. A. 
came to see me, and says she is quite baffled in her 
attempts to teach her little R. his Bible. He is only 
three years old, but a fine clever boy. She gave up 
the creation because he always would have it that the first 
man's name was Jack ; and to-day she tried the story 
of Samuel, which she thought would amuse him, and 
it went on very well, with a few yawns, till she asked, 
e TTkat did Samuel say when the Lord called him the 
third time ? ' — i I'm a-toming, a-toming, so don't teaze 
I any more.' She thought this hopeless, and gave up 
her Sunday lessons. 

Camp, Tuesday, Jan. 30- 

Gr. had a durbar yesterday, and then went to see the 
gaol. F. and I went with P. to the native town to see 
if we could find anything to sketch, but we could not. 
Mr. C. caught a very fine old native in the town, with 
a white beard down to his waist, and he was rather a 
distinguished character, fought for the English in the 
time of then troubles here ; so he sat for his picture, 
and it was a good opportunity to make him a present. 
It is such an immense time since we have had any 



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85 



letters — none by sea of a later date than August 5, 
nearly six months ago. For a wonder, we marched ten 
miles to-day without an accident. 

Amroah, Wednesday, Jan. 31. 

I went to see Mrs. S. yesterday, and the visit rather 
reminded me of you. Of course, as you observe, I 
should forget you utterly if ic were not for these 
occasional remembrances of you, and the constant 
practice of thinking of you most hours of most days. 
The eldest little S. girl was ill, an attack of fever, and, 
/think, thrush, but at all events her mouth was in a 
shocking state; ( and Dr. D. accused me of having 
given her calomel,' Mrs. S. said, ' but I really never 
do, I detest calomel ; half the children in India are 
killed by it.' Just then four of her children and two 
little Y.s rushed in, with guns and swords and paper 
helmets — £ Mamma, M. is gone on the elephant with- 
out us.' 

e No, my dears, there's M. arranging my workbox. 
Now, don't make a noise — Miss Eden 's here. Bun 
along.' 

6 But, mamma, may E. and F. Y. drink tea with 
us to-night ? — we want them.' 

e Well, dears, we'll see about it presently ; now run 
along.' 

i But their mamma says she won't let them come if 
you don't write a note.' 

e Very well, dears, run along.' 

( But, mamma, will you give us the note to take ? ' 

6 I'll think about it, my love ; perhaps I shall meet 
Mr Y. out walking ; and now pray run along.' 



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Upon which M. looked up from the workbox she was 
arranging. 

e Mamma, may I have this seal ? ' 

' No, dear, certainly not; it was sent me by my 
little sister from England ; and now run along- after 
your brothers.' 

I told her how much you were in the habit of saying 
c run along ' when you had any visitor with you — 
whereat we laughed. The poor little girl looked very 
sick, and I could not find anything to send her, not 
even a picture-book. 

Amroah is a very long narrow town, where they 
make a very coarse sort of porcelain, which they paint 
and gild. G. had a quantity of it given to him, which 
he sent to me, and the native servants had great fun in 
dividing it amongst themselves. Captain N. drove me 
in the evening back to a gateway we had seen this 
morning — the first pretence at an object for a sketch 
we had had for many days. We saw a great crowd 
round it, and in the middle of them P. on his elephant, 
and in his spectacles, sketching away as hard as he 
could. 

When we came back, I went to fetch out G., who 
never goes out when he can help it, and took him what 
I thought a prettier walk than usual — about half a 
quarter of a mile of sand ankle deep, to an old mosque, 
raised on an elevation of at least eighteen inches — f a 
splendiferous creature ' — (did you ever read 6 Mck of 
the Woods ? ' you sent it out to us, and we do nothing 
but quote it) — but he thought it more tiresome than 
any walk he had taken yet. We found W. and F. there, 
just on the same tack, F. thinking it was rather pretty, 



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and W. not able to guess why he was dragged all 
through that sand, and wishing himself at Calcutta. 
6 Yes,' G. said, i I am more utterly disgusted, more 
wretchedly bored than ever, so now I shall go back to 
my tent, and wish for Government House.' In the 
meanwhile he is becoming a red-faced fat-ish man, and 
6 if he aspires to play the leading villain of the plot, 
his corpulence will soon unfit him for that role.' (See 
< The Heroine.') 

Grurmukteser Grhaut, Friday, Feb. 2. 

We crossed the Ganges this morning on a bridge of 
boats, which was very well constructed, considering the 
magistrate had not had much notice. The elephants 
always go first, and if the boats bear elephants, they 
will bear anything. A Mr. F. and two assistants, and 
a Mr. and Mrs. T. had come out forty miles to meet 
us ; and it is unfortunate we had not known it, for I 
had asked the B.s, D.s, General E., &c, to dinner, 
and unless there was another tent pitched, we had room 
only for three more, and it puts the aides-de-camp 
into consternation if any of these strangers are left out. 
Mrs. T. wears long thick thread mittens, with black 
velvet bracelets over them. She may have great 
genius, and many good qualities, but, you know, it is 
impossible to look for them under those mittens. 

The weather is very changeable in these parts. On 
Wednesday morning the thermometer w T as at 41° and 
on Thursday at 78°, so we rush from fur cloaks, and 
shawls, and stoves, to muslin gowns and fans ; and as 
far as I am concerned, I do not think it is very whole- 
some, but it seems to agree generally with the camp. 
The children are all rather ailing just now, and there 



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is a constant demand for our spare palanquin to carry 
on a sick child. 

Shah Jehanpore, Sunday, Feb. 4. 

G., with Major J. and Mr. M. a went yesterday to 
Haupor, where there is a Government stud, and they 
came back this morning pleased with their expedition. 
George had had the pleasure of sleeping in a house, 
and thought it quite delightful. When we arrived 
here yesterday, we found Captain C, our former aide- 
de-camp, waiting for us. I always said he would come 
out to meet us, and AT. betted a rupee that he would 
not, so now I shall have a rupee to spend on my menus 
plaisirs, and may go in at half-price to the play at 
Meerut. Chance arrived so tired from his march. He 
was not the least glad to see Captain C, which was 
very shocking, but he made up for it in the course of 
the day, and to-night he is to go back with Captain C. 
in his palanquin, and pass two days with him, and to 
eat ail the time I suppose. I discovered that C. had 
sent for Chance's servant, and said that he thought him 
shockingly thin (you never saw such a ball of fat), 
and the man said it was very true, but it was the Lady 
Sahib's orders, so then C. decided to borrow him for a 
few days and to feed him up. He will have a fit to a 
certainty. 

It was so dreadfully hot yesterday — quite like a 
May day in Calcutta — and everybody was lying 
panting in their tents. It is lucky we have made the 
most of our six weeks of cold, which was very pleasant 
while it lasted. If we have rain, it may return again, 
but otherwise they say we have no notion what the hot 



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winds are on these plains, and we have still six weeks 
to live in these horrid tents. 

Meerut, Tuesday, Feb. 6. 
We had some rain on Sunday night, not enough to 
do good to the crops or the cattle, but it has made the 
air cool, and the dust was quite laid yesterday. The 
tents we came up to at Mhow were quite wet. If once 
they become really wet through, we should have to stop 
a week wherever we might be, and however short our 
supply might be, as the canvas becomes too heavy for 
the elephants to carry. We had a very pretty entry 
this mo minor There are four regiments here — two 
of them Queen's troops, and One of them is W.'s old 
regiment of lancers. They were all drawn out, and 
an immense staff met G. and rode in with him. The 
most amusing incident to me, who was comfortably in 
the carriage, was that one of the lancers' horses escaped 
from his rider, and ran amongst all the gentlemen. It 
would be wrong to laugh in general at such an event, 
for a loose horse in this country is like a wild beast, 
and tears people off their horses and worries them ; 
but this one only went curvetting about, and when he 
took to chase old Mr. A. round the others, it was 
rather interesting and pretty. I had no idea Mr. A. 
could have turned and doubled his horse about so 
neatly. Five or six lancers were riding about after 
him, without the least chance of catching the wild 
beast, who was captured at last by one of the syces. 

Meerut is a large European station — a quantity of 
barracks and white bungalows spread over four miles 
of plain. There is nothing to see or to draw. 

George had a levee in the morning and audiences 



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all day, and would not go out any more. F. and I 
went in the tonjauns wherever the bearers chose to 
convey us, and that happened to be to the European 
burial-ground. We could not discover any one in- 
dividual who lived to be more than thirty-six. It may 
give Lady A. D. pleasure to know that Sir R.'s first 
wife is certainly dead and buried — at least she is 
buried — under a remarkably shabby tomb. People 
here build immense monuments to their friends, but 
Sir R. cut his wife off with a small child's tombstone. 

Wednesday, Feb. 7. 

There now ! there is the overland post come, of 
December 1st, with a letter from R. and one from Mr. 
D., both to George. It is a great thing to know you 
were all well at that time, but still it is very mortify- 
ing not to have any letters addressed to our noble 
selves. It falls so flat. I had long ago given up any 
sea letters, but we kept consoling ourselves with the 
notion of this overland business — that is, I never did; 
I always said we should not have our proper comple- 
ment of letters, so I am not the least surprised, for I 
am confident that we have been here at least fifteen 
years, and are of course forgotten ; but still it is very 
shocking, is not it ? Lady G. used to write, but she 
has given it up too. I do not know what is to be done ; 
and I consider it rather a grand trait of character that 
I go writing on as much as ever, considering it is six 
months and four days since the date of your last letter. 
The post brought in plenty of papers, and the Queen's 
visits to Guildhall and to Co vent Garden are very 
interesting. I think politics look ugly enough. 



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We had a very large party last night — the two large 
tents quite full of nice-looking people — and they 
danced away very merrily. 

Meerut, Sunday, Feb. 11. 

We have had so much to do I could not write. 
But first and foremost we have had some letters of 
September by the i Zenobia ' and the ( Royal Saxon : ' 
not a line from you — you evidently have a little pet 
ship of your own ; and but one from L., one from 
Lady Gr., &c. : in short, a good provision, but I still 
wish yours would come to hand. These are five 
months old, but that is not so bad. 

We have had a ball on Wednesday from the 
artillery ; a play on Thursday by . amateurs — ( Rob 
Roy ' — and 6 Die Yernon ' acted by a very tall lancer 
with an immense flaxen wig, long ringlets hanging in 
an infantine manner over his shoulders, short sleeves, 
and, as Meerut does not furnish gloves, large white 
arms with very red hands. Except in Calcutta, such 
a thing as an actress does not exist, so this was 
thought a very good { Die Yernon ; ' but I hear that 
f Juliet ' and i Desdemona ' are supposed to be his 
best parts. Friday, the station gave us a ball, which 

was very full. There were two Miss s come out 

from England to join a married sister, the wife of an 
officer in the lancers. She is very poor herself, but 
has eight sisters at home, so I suppose thought it right 
to help her family ; and luckily, I think, they will not 
hang long on her hands. They are such very pretty 
girls, and knowing-looking, and have brought out for 
their married sister, who is also very pretty, gowns 
and headdresses like their own. The three together 



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had a pretty effect. They are the only young ladies 
at the station, so I suppose will have their choice of 
three regiments ; but it is a bad business when all is 
done. They arrived just in time for this gay week, 
which will give the poor girls a false impression of the 
usual tenor of their lives. The only other unmarried 
woman also appeared for the first time as a lady. Her 
father has just been raised from the ranks for his good 
conduct. The poor girl was very awkward and ill- 
dressed, but looked very amiable and shy. I went 
and sat down by her, and talked to her for some time ; 
and her father came the next day to G. and said he 
felt so grateful for the notice taken of his daughter. 
The poor girl evidently did not know how to dance. 

Yesterday George gave another great dinner, at 
which we did not appear. I don't think I ever felt 
more tired, but the weather is grown very warm again; 
and then, between getting up early when we are 
marching, and sitting up late at the stations, I am 
never otherwise than tired. We went to the church 
to-day instead of having service at home. It is rather 
a fine sight, as General N.'s e sax and twenty thoosand 
men ' were there. He is the Governor of the district, 
a good-natured old man, but he has quite lost his 
memory, and says the same thing ten times over, and 
very often it was a mistake at first. George asked 
him how many men he had at Meerut ; he said, ( I 
cannot just say, my Lord ; perhaps sax and twenty 
thoosand ' — such a fine army for a small place. 

Tuesday, Feb. 13. 

We were to have left Meerut to-day, but I was 



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93 



obliged to tell George that no human strength could 
possibly bear the gaieties of yesterday, and a march of 
sixteen miles at four this morning. 

We had a dinner at General N.'s of seventy people 
— e sax and twenty thoosand,' I believe, by the time 
the dinner lasted — but it was very well done. Mrs. 
N. is a nice old lady, and the daughter, who is plain, 
shows what birth is: she is much the most ladylike- 
looking person here. When the dinner was over — and 
I have every reason to believe it did finish at last, 
though I cannot think I lived to see it — we all went to 
the ball the regiment gave us. I look upon it as some 
merit that I arrived in a state of due sobriety, for old 
General N.'s twaddling took the turn of forgetting 
that he had offered me any wine, and every other 
minute he began with an air of recollection, i Well, 
ma'am, and now shall you and 1 have a glass of wine 
together ? ' The ball was just like the others, but 
with a great display of plate at supper, and the rooms 
looked smarter. 

Tell E. Mrs. B. is our 6 Dragon Green,' only she 
does not imitate us with that exquisite taste and tact 
which the lovely Miss Green displays. I bought a 
green satin the other day from a common box- wallah 
who came into the camp ; — how she knows what we 
buy we never can make out, but she always does — 
and the next day she sent her tailor to ask mine for a 
pattern of the satin, that she might get one like it 
from Calcutta. The same with some fur F. bought. 
I found some turquoise earrings last week, which I 
took care not to mention to her, but yesterday the 
baboo of Mr. B.'s office stalked into my tent with a 



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pair precisely the same, and a necklace like that I 
bought at Lucknow, and said his c Mem Sahib ' 
(so like the East Indians calling their ladies f Mem 
Sahibs') had sent him to show me those, and ask if 
they were the same as mine. Having ascertained that 
the earrings were double, and the necklace four times, 
the price of mine, I said they were exactly similar, 
and that I approved of them very much. I hope she 
will buy them. 

We saw a great deal of Captain C. at Meerut, and 
he would have been very happy if he had not thought 
Chance grown thin. F. left with him her tame deer, 
which is grown up and becoming very dangerous. 
It is a pity that tame deer always become pugnacious 
as soon as their horns come through. 

I treated myself to such a beautiful miniature of 
W. O. There is a native here, Juan Kam, who 
draws beautifully sometimes, and sometimes utterly 
fails, but his picture of William is quite perfect. Xo- 
body can suggest an alteration, and as a work of art it 
is a very pretty possession. It was so admired that F. 
got a sketch of Gr. on cardboard, which is also an ex- 
cellent likeness ; and it is a great pity there is no time 
for sitting for our pictures for you — but we never 
have time for any useful purpose. 

Camp, Delhi, Feb- 20. 

This identical Delhi is one of the few sights, indeed 
the only one except Lucknow, that has quite equalled 
my expectations. Four miles round it there is no- 
thing to be seen but gigantic ruins of mosques and 
palaces, and the actual living city has the finest 



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95 



mosque we have seen yet. It is in such perfect pre- 
servation, built entirely of red stone and white marble, 
with immense flights of marble steps leading up to 
three sides of it ; these, the day we went to it, were 
entirely covered with people dressed in very bright 
colours — Sikhs, and Mahrattas, and some of the fair 
Mo^ul race, all assembled to see the Governor-Ge- 
neral's suwarree, and I do not think I ever saw so 
striking a scene. They followed us into the court of 
the temple, which is surmounted by an open arched 
gallery, and through every arch there was a view of 
some fine ruins, or of some part of the King of Delhi's 
palace, which is an immense structure two miles round, 
all built of deep red stone, with buttresses and battle- 
ments, and looks like an exaggerated scene of Timour 
the Tartar, and as if little Agib was to be thrown 
instantly from the highest tower, and Fatima to be 
constantly wringing her hands from the top of the 
battlements. There are hundreds of the Royal family 
of Delhi who have never been allowed to pass these 
walls, and never will be. Such a melancholy red stone 
notion of life as they must have ! G. went up to the 
top of one of the largest minarets of the mosque and 
has been stiff ever since. From there we went to the 
black mosque, one of the oldest buildings in India, and 
came home under the walls of the palace. We passed 
the building in which Nadir Shah sat for a whole day 
looking on while he allowed his troops to massacre and 
plunder the city. These eastern cities are so much 
more thickly inhabited than ours, and the people look 
so defenceless, that a massacre of that sort must be 
a horrible slaughter ; but I own I think a little simple 



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plunder would be pleasant. You never saw such an 
army of jewellers as we have constantly in our tents. 
On Saturday morning I got up early and went with 
Major J. to make a sketch of part of the palace, and 
the rest of the day was cut up by jewellers, shawl 
merchants, dealers in curiosities, &c. &c, and they 
begin by asking us such immense prices, which they 
mean to lower eventually, that we have all the trouble 
of seeing the things twice. 

Yesterday we went to the church built by Colonel 
Skinner. He is a native of this country, a half-caste, 
but verv black, and talks broken English. He has 
had a regiment of irregular horse for the last forty 
years, and has done all sorts of gallant things, had 
seven horses killed under him, and been wounded in 
proportion : has made several fortunes and lost them : 
has built himself several fine houses, and has his 
zenana and heaps of black sons t like any other native. 
He built this church, which is a very curious building, 
and very magnificent — in some respects ; and within 
sight of it there is a mosque which he has also built, 
because he said that one way or the other he should 
be sure to go to heaven. In short, he is one of the 
people whose lives ought to be written for the par- 
ticular amusement of succeeding generations. His 
Protestant church has a dome in the mosque fashion, 
and I was quite afraid that with the best dispositions 
to attend to Mr. Y.. little visions of Mahomet would 
be creeping in. Skinner's brother, Major Robert 
Skinner, was the same sort of melodramatic character, 
and made a tragic end. He suspected one of his 
wives of a slight ecart from the path of propriety — 



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97 



very unjustly, it is said — but he called her and all his 
servants together, cut off the heads of every individual 
in his household, and then shot himself. His soldiers 
bought every article of his property at ten times its 
value, that they might possess relics of a man who had 
shown, they said, such a quick sense of honour. 

G. and I took a drive in the evening all round the 
cantonments, and there is really some pretty scenery 
about Delhi, and great masses of stone lying about, 
which looks well after those eternal sands. 

In the afternoon we all (except G., who could not 
go, from some point of etiquette) went to see the 
palace. It is a melancholy sight — so magnificent 
originally, and so poverty-stricken now. The marble 
hall where the king sits is still very beautiful, all inlaid 
with garlands and birds of precious stones, and the 
inscription on the cornice is what Moore would like to 
see in the original : ( If there be an Elysium on earth, 
it is this, it is this ! ' 

The lattices look out on a garden which leads down 
to the Jumna, and the old king was sitting in the 
garden with a chowrybadar weaving the flies from him ; 
but the garden is all gone to decay too, and ( the Light 
of the World ' had a forlorn and darkened look. 
All our servants were in a state of profound venera- 
tion ; the natives all look upon the King of Delhi as 
their rightful lord, and so he is, I suppose. In some of 
the pavilions belonging to the princes there were such 
beautiful inlaid floors, any square of which would have 
made an enviable table for a palace in London, but the 
stones are constantly stolen ; and in some of the finest 
baths there were dirty charpoys spread, w r ith dirtier 

H 



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guards sleeping on them. In short, Delhi is a very 
suggestive and moralising place — such stupendous re- 
mains of power and wealth passed and passing away — 
and somehow I feel that we horrid English have just 
f gone and done it,' merchandised it, revenued it, and 
spoiled it all. I am not very fond of Englishmen out 
of their own country. And Englishwomen did not 
look pretty at the ball in the evening, and it did not 
tell well for the beauty of Delhi that the painted ladies 
of one regiment, who are generally called f the little 
corpses ' (and very hard it is too upon most corpses) 
were much the prettiest people there, and were be- 
sieged with partners. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The Kootub, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 1838. 

Well, of all the things I ever saw, I think this is the 
finest. Did we know about it in England? I mean, 
did you and I, in our old ancient Briton state, know ? 
Do you know now, without my telling you, what the 
Kootub is ? Don't be ashamed, there is no harm in 
not knowing, only I do say it is rather a pity we were 
so ill taught. I have had so many odd names dinned 
into me during the countless years I seem to have 
passed in this country, that I cannot remember the 
exact degree of purity of mind (which enemies may 
term ignorance) with which I left home ; but after all 
that had been said, I expected the Kootub would have 
been rather inferior to the Monument. One has those 



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99 



little prejudices. It happens to be the Monument 
put at the top of the column in the Place Vendome, 
and that again placed on a still grander base. It is 
built of beautiful red granite, is 240 feet high and 50 
feet in diameter, and carved all over with sentences 
from the Koran, each letter a yard high, and the letter 
again interlaced and ornamented with carved flowers 
and garlands ; it is between six and seven hundred 
years old, and looks as if it were finished yesterday, 
and it stands in a wilderness of ruins, carved gate- 
ways, and marble tombs, one more beautiful than the 
other. 

They say that the man who built it meant it for one 
minaret of a mosque — a mosque, you are to under- 
stand, always possessing two minarets and three domes. 
But as some say Kootub himself built this, and others 
say that a particular Emperor called Alexander II. 
has the merit of it, and as nobody knows whether there 
ever were a Kootub or an Alexander II., I think it 
is just possible that we do not know what a man who 
never was born meant to make of a building that never 
was built. As it stands it is perfect. We went at six 
this morning to see a well into which divers are so good 
as to jump from the height of sixty feet. They seem 
to fly almost in the air, till they nearly reach the water, 
and then they join their feet together and go down 
straight, and the water closes over them. But they 
come up again, do not be afraid. 

We had dispatched all our sights before seven, and 
had two hours' good sketching before breakfast, and 
now it is as hot as ever I felt it in Bengal. 

H 2 



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Delhi, Friday, Feb. 25. 
Yesterday morning we found there was so much to 
do and to finish, that we settled to stay on here till 
Saturday, and to commit the sin for the first time of 
marching on Sunday, as we have not a day to spare. 
The heir-apparent of Delhi has been coaxed or threat- 
ened into waiting on Gr., so there was a second durbar 
to be held to-day, and when it came to the time, the 
prince had taken to his bed, and had sent for thirteen 
doctors to say he was too ill to come. However, he 
changed his mind again and came, and in the mean- 
while, half our troops who were out for the durbar 
were fainting away from the heat. In the afternoon 
G. had to go and return the visits of the rajahs in the 
neighbourhood, and we went to see Humayun's tomb, 
about six miles off, where we meant to sketch till Gr. 
came, but it turned out a failure after all we had heard 
of it. 

^However, there were some beautiful white marble 
tombs in the neighbourhood, carved like lace : and 
then we went to another well, or rather tank, entirely 
surrounded by mosques and buildings, on the roofs of 
which divers were all waiting to jump. We implored 
and begged they would not take us for the Lord Sahib, 
and take the fatal plunge in our honour, and the 
guards went and pushed the crowds off, and declared the 
Lord Sahib was coming, and we sat down and sketched, 
and at last, just as we were giving him up, he and 
all his people arrived, and the divers all bounded off. 
Some of them jumped from a height of eighty feet, 
clearing several buildings in their way. It is much 
the most curious sight I have seen, and I now cannot 



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guess why they did not tumble head over heels twenty 
times before they reached the water. In the evening 
we went to a nautch at Colonel Skinner's. His house 
is fitted up in the native fashion, and he had all the 
best singers and dancers in Delhi, and they acted pas- 
sages out of Yishnu and Brahma's lives, and sano- 
Persian songs which I thought made a very ugly noise; 
but Mr. B., who speaks Persian as fluently as English, 
kept saying, ( Well, this is really delightful — this I 
think is equal to any European singing — in fact, 
there is nothing like it.' 

There is nothing like it that I ever heard before, but 
certainly the words, as he translated them, were very 
pretty. One little fat nautch girl sang a sort of pas- 
sionate song to Gr. with little meaning smiles, which I 
think rather attracted his lordship, and I thought it 
might be too much for him if I forwarded to him Mr. 
B.'s translation. c I am the body, you are the soul : 
we may be parted here, but let no one say we shall be 
separated hereafter. My father has deserted me ; my 
mother is dead; I have no friends. My grave is open, 
and I look into it ; but do you care for me ? ' The 
dancing is very slow and very dull, but the dresses and 
ornaments are beautiful. 

Saturday, Feb. 26. 

We had a melancholy catastrophe last night. There 
has been a great deal of pilfering in the camp the two 
last days, which has been the case with every great 
camp near Delhi, and our people were unluckily more 
awake than usual. A thief was seen running off with 
one of the servants' cooking pots, and pursued. A syce 
of Mr. T. caught hold of him. The thief turned round 



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and snick his knife into the man and killed him on the 
spot. He was dead before they could even fetch Dr. 
D. The thief is taken, but nobody is ever hanged in 
this country. Mr. T.. who has been agent here for 
twenty-two years, takes it as a personal affront that we 
should have been robbed in his district, though I 
should have thought the affront lay the other way. 

Paniput, Feb. 28. 

Delhi turned out a very unwholesome place. All 
the servants have been taken with attacks of fever and 
sickness : the sudden hot days after the cold weather 
disagree with them. Our camp has grown much 

larger. There are more hangers-on. Mrs. has 

taken charge of a little niece and two nephews who 
lost their mother suddenly, and she is taking them up 
to the hills — I never saw such sickly little things. I 
see another little European girl every morning on the 
line of march, who has evidently nobody but bearers 
to take charge of her, probably going up to a school at 
Mussoorie, where parents who are too poor to send 
children home now send them. I forget whether I 
told you a story Mr. T. told me about the way in 
which children travel here, and which strikes me as 
very shocking, and would probably strike you more. 
I believe I have told it to you twice already in hopes 
of making your motherly hair stand on end. He said 
a palanquin was brought to his house containing three 
little children — a little girl nine years old and two 
smaller brothers. They were going up to Mussoorie. 
had been travelling three days, and had about a 
week's more journey. They had not even their names 



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103 



written on a piece of paper, or a note to the magis- 
trates of the district, but were just passed on from one 
set of bearers to the other. You know the bearers are 
changed every eight miles like so many post horses, 
and it constantly happens on a dak journey that the 
bearers get tired, or the fresh set are not at their posts, 
and the palanquin is put down on the road and the 
traveller left to help himself. The bearers who brought 
these children to Mr. T.'s, said they thought the 
children were tired, and so they had brought them to an 
European house for a rest. Mr. T. had them washed 
and dressed, and fed them and kept them half a day, 
when he was obliged to send them away for fear they 
should lose their dak. He said they were very shy, 
and would hardly speak, but he made out their names 
and gave them notes to other magistrates, and some 
months afterwards he saw them at school at Mussoorie ; 
but it is an odd way of sending children to school. I 
should like to see you packing off your three youngest 
boys for the chances of these naked half savages taking 
them and feeding them and looking after them on the 
road, without even a servant to attend to them. 

When we came into camp this morning we found 

Mr. , whose turn it had been to come on with the 

guard of honour, perfectly desperate. His tent had 
been entirely stripped in the night, he and his bearers 
remaining in a profound sleep while the thieves cut 
entirely away one side of the tent, and carried off 
over his head a large camel-trunk and all his other 
boxes, with his sword, gun, and pistols. It was a sad 
loss for a poor lieutenant in the army, but luckily the 
police recovered most of his things in the course of the 



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day, except, as he says with a most sentimental sigh, 
i a few rings of no value in themselves, but of value to 

me, and a few chits.' The magistrate, Mr. , 

treats with the greatest contempt the idea of recovering 
any sentimental goods. ' I assure you,' he says, i the 
dacoits at Pannyput have no idea of sentiment.' Pro- 
bably not — but that does not console Lieut. for 

the loss of his chits. 

Kurnaul, March. 2. 

We arrived here yesterday ; a great ugly scattered 
cantonment, all barracks, and dust, and guns, and 
soldiers ; and Gr. had a levee in the morning, and we 
were f at home' in the evening ; and the officers of four 
regiments, with their wives and daughters, all came 
and danced. The fashions are even a^ain behind those 
of Delhi. Mrs. V. appeared in a turban made I think 
of stamped tin moulded into two fans, from which de- 
scended a long pleureuse feather floating over some 
very full sleeves. Mrs. Z. did not aspire to any- 
thing fanciful, but was simply attired in a plain 
coloured gown made of a very few yards of sarcenet. 
We are o-oino; to dine with the General to-dav — a 
dinner of sixty people. 

Yesterday as we were stepping over the street to 
luncheon, there appeared an interesting procession of 
tired coolies carrying boxes — our English boxes that 
had come plodding after us from Allahabad. I was in 
hopes Mr. D.'s bonnets would have come out of one of 
them, but we heard in the evening that they are at 
least a month off, and in the meantime the unpacking 
of these was immense fun. There were two boxes of 
books, and I had just come to an end of the last set, 



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105 



and now there is Mrs. Gore's tf Stokeshill Park/ and 
6 My Aunt Dorothy,' and some French novels, and, 
above all, dear Charles Lamb's Letters, which I have 
been sighing for and have begun upon instantly. I 
cannot imagine what number of hill-bearers will take 
our goods up to Simla. Major J. has written for 
1,500, and they are already at work taking the first 
division of goods up. Our camp will break up almost 
entirely in a few days. We three, with two aides-de- 
camp, the doctor, and one secretary, are going through 
the Dhoon, a sort of route that will not admit of a 
large party. It is a very pretty road, and likely to 
be cooler than the actual plains. 

The rest of the camp and most of the servants' will 
pursue the straight road. I long to get into the hills 
more than ever. It is grown so very hot now, quite as 
bad as Calcutta in May. I believe we shall not be 
able to take Wright and Jones this route, which will 
make them very unhappy. St. Cloup told me yester- 
day that he had at last had a letter from Madame St. 
Cloup, which had made him very happy, and that she 
was in an excellent place with a relation of ours. Poor 
woman ! she little knows what a faithless man he is. 
However, he bought her a beautiful gold chain at 
Delhi, and he said that now he had had this letter, he 
had ( quelque envie de lui acheter des boucles d'oreilles,' 
but that he thought it would be better to take them 
home. It would make her more glad to see him. 



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CHAPTER XIV. 

Camp, Kurnaul, March 5, 1838. 

It goes much against the grain with me to begin a 
fresh Journal on half a sheet, but it is an odd time for 
writing, so I must take what I can get and be thankful. 
The things are all put away for the night under the 
sentries. G. is sitting down to a dinner of forty men 
in red coats, ( fathers and mothers unknown.' F., W., 
and I have devoured such small cheer as St. Cloup 
would allow the kitmutgar to pick up from the outside 
of the kitchen at an early hour. W. O. is this moment 
gone off for his three weeks' tiger-shooting ; and now 
there is just one hour before I need dress for the station 
ball, so that I devote to writing to you. We could not 
help laughing at our private dinner, considering what 
people say of the luxuries of the East, and of the state 
in which the Governor-General lives. The dinner was 
very good, thanks to its being stolen from St. Cloup's 
best company preparations ; but we were in a small 
empty tent, lighted up by two candles and one night- 
lamp. The whole number of leaves of the dining- 
table were apparently wanted in the large tent, for 
they had given us a borrowed camp-table, two very 
dirty deal boards, covered with the marks of old slops, 
and of the rounds of glasses. I am sure at any of 
the London gin-palaces the scavengers would have 
grumbled at the look of it ; and our three coffee-cups, 
with a plate of biscuits for Chance in the centre, did 
not look handsome. The purdahs were all up, as the 



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107 



evening is hot, so outside we had a good view of the 
kettle boiling for tea on some sticks of charcoal, and 
the bearers washing up the dirty plates and keeping 
the pariah dogs from helping themselves. W.'s dhoolie, 
a sort of bed on poles, was waiting for him in the 
distance, with two irregular horsemen for an escort. 
Altogether, I think a Blackheath gipsy would have 
sneered at us ; but otherwise, nothing was absolutely 
wanting. I came back to my tent meaning to write 
to you, but found, as I told you, everything whisked 
off, except one table and my sofa ; and that has now 

been carried away to serve as a bed for a Mr. , 

who has come dak sixty miles on some business 
with G. 

I can hardly write because I am in the middle of 
i Lamb's Life and Letters ' — such a nice book ! I 
quite dread going on with it for fear of finishing it. 
It sometimes does almost as well as you to talk with 
for five minutes. I like the way in which he goes on 
revelling in a bad joke, making nonsense by the piece ; 
and there are such good little bits of real feeling. 
i All about you is a threadbare topic. I have worn it 
out with thinking ; it has come to me when I have 
been dull with anything, till my sadness has seemed 
more to have come from it, than to have introduced it. 
I want you, you don't know how much.' Such a jewel 
of a man to have put that into words, and it is so true ! 
I often find myself saucing up my distaste for the pre- 
sent with regret for the past, and so disguising a little 
discontent with a great deal of sentiment ; but yet that 
is rather unfair too, for I really should not mind India 
if you and three or four others were here. The 



]08 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



discontent with it arises a great deal from want of the old 
familiar friends. However, we have at last done two 
years of it. I believe it has taken ns forty English 
years to do these two Indian ones ; but still it shows 
what time and longevity will effect. Mr. Y. brought 
rather an interesting individual to my tent this morn- 
ing, a Christianised Indian ; he has been a strict 
Christian for nearly twenty-three years, and last year 
the Bishop ordained him. He was a Brahmin of the 
highest class, and is a very learned man. I asked him 
how his conversion began, whether from discontent 
with his own belief, or from the persuasions of others ; 
and he said he was dissatisfied with his own supersti- 
tions, and got a copy of Henry Martyn's translation of 
St. John, and then of the Acts, and then went back to 
the rest of the Bible. Mrs. Sherwood, who lived at 
Meerut, was afterwards his chief instructress, and he 
speaks of her with the greatest gratitude. He keeps a 
school now, which is attended by about forty children, 
but he does not think he has made any real converts. 
I wish he could have spoken English : I wanted to 
know more about it all. He was here a long time, and 
I did rather a highly-finished picture of him, thinking 
the old Bishop would like it. He is rather like Sidney 
Smith blackened, and laughed about as heartily as 
Sidney would have done at his own picture. 

Tuesday, March 6. 

We went to our ball last night — it was pretty ; the 
room was hung round with such profusion of garlands 
and a sort of stage, on which there were green arches 
decked out with flowers ; but what particularly took 



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109 



my fancy was a set of European soldiers dressed up for 
the night as footmen, real red plush trousers, with blue 
coats and red collars, and white cotton stockings, and 
powdered heads, and they carried about trays of tea 
and ices. After the turbaned heads and 6 the trash 
and tiffany,' as Hook says, with which we are sur- 
rounded, you cannot conceive what a pleasant English 
look this gave to the room. Such fat, rosy English 
footmen ! It is very odd how sometimes the sudden 
recurrence of some common English custom shows the 
unnatural state of things in which we live — that red 
plush ! it was just like Rousseau's ( Voila de la per- 
venche,' only not quite so romantic. To-day, before I 
was dressed, Rosina said that G.'s nazir wanted to 
speak to me, and I found him in my tent at the head 
of at least a hundred yards of 6 trash and tiffany,' come 
to hope I would ask my lord to stay another day, as to- 
morrow is the great Mussulman holiday — they call it 
their Buckra Eed, or sounds to that effect ; and it is, 
in fact, a commemoration of Abraham offering up Isaac, 
only they do it in honour of Ishmael. Nothing can be 
more inconvenient, but I never can refuse the nazir 
anything, he looks so timid and gentlemanlike ; so I 
went to Gr. with the deputation, and we have altered 
all our plans, and may have to march on Sunday to 
make up for it. A shocking sacrifice of Christianity 
to Mahomedanism ! only, as I said before, I cannot 
refuse the nazir ; and also, the servants have in general 
borne the march very well, and deserve some consi- 
deration. We have written now to revive a play the 
privates of the Artillery had wanted to act, and which 
we had declined for want of time to go and see it. 



J 10 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



Camp, one march from Kurnaul, Thursday, Xarch 8. 

I took Mrs. A. out in the carriage on Tuesday even- 
ing, and after I had taken her home, I was caught in 
a regular storm of dust, what they call a dry storm 
here, much worse than a thick London fog. The syces 
walked before the horses feeling their way, and halloo- 
ing because the postilions could not see them; and as 
it was, I came in at the wrong end of the camp with 
the syces missing. W. tried to go out to dinner, but 
could not find his way. 

We went to the play last night, 6 Tekeli,' and it 
really was wonderfully well acted. They did much 
better than the gentlemen amateurs at Meerut, and, 
except that the heroines were six feet high and their 
pink petticoats had not more than three breadths in 
them, the whole thing was well done : the scenery and 
decorations were excellent, and all got up by the 
privates. There was one man who sang comic songs 
in a quiet, dawdling way that Matthews could not have 
surpassed. It was all over by nine o'clock. We 
marched very early this morning, as it was a sixteen 
miles' march, which is always a trial to the servants 
and to the regiment, the sun is so hot now after eight. 
The sergeant who sends back reports of the road the 
evening before, always writes them in rather a grand 
style, and he put down to-day : ' First and second mile 
good ; at the third mile, bridge over the canal which 
requires the greatest precaution — the roaring sluices 
may alarm the horses.' I wish you had seen the 
i roaring sluices,' something like the cascades we used 
to build when we were children in the ditch at Elmer's 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



Ill 



End, but hardly so imposing. Sergeant is so 

unused to the slightest inequality either of land or 
water, that it astounds him. The servants enjoyed 
their holiday thoroughly. They all put off their liveries 
and went round the camp to make their little compli- 
ments, which they do in very good taste, and the old 
khansamah made a sort of chapel of the hangings of 
tents, and there was one of their priests in the centre 
reading the Koran, and between four and five hundred 
of them kneeling round, all looking so white and clean 
in their muslin dresses. I really think they are very 
good people, they are so very particular about their 
prayers. 

Friday, March 9. 

We had our overland packet of December 27 yester- 
day. There never was anything so praiseworthy as the 
regularity of that Overland Mail lately, but where are 
your letters ? You must send them to China with 
directions to climb over the wall and post on to Simla, 
or to f try New South Wales, or Tartary.' I heard 
from R. and M. and L. all up to Christmas, and you 
are still at August 5th. It is very odd, because I am 
confident you write, but I should like to know what 
you write. We have heard from Mr. D. much later 
than from you. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Saharunpore, Sunday, March 11, 1838. 

This is a small station, only two ladies, one of whom 
is Miss T. ; she came out last year to join a brother 



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here, who is quite delighted to have her, and she seems 
very contented with her quiet life ; but everybody is 
contented with their stations at the foot of the hills. 
They stay the cold season here, and go in twelve 
hours up to Mussoorie, where most of them have their 
regular established homes, so they escape all hot 
weather. Miss T. and her brother and the other 
Saharunpore gentlemen came out to meet us, and G. 
and I stopped at Captain C.'s to see an immense 
collection of fossils, all proving that our elephants of 
the present day were 'little Chances' of the olden 
time. G\ had a durbar, and in the afternoon we went 
to the Botanical Gardens, which are very shady and 
nice ; and we sent the band there, as the Saharunporites 
do not often hear music. It is a pretty little station. 

Kerni, March 15. 
G. has been out tiger-hunting from the two last 
stations. They never had a glimpse of a tiger, though 
here and there they saw the footprints of one. One of 
the days the thermometer was at 90° in our tents, but 
G. stayed out the whole day, and said he did not feel 
the heat. 

Mussoorie, Sunday, March 18. 

On Thursday evening we went on to Deyrah, too 
late to see anything, but Friday morning the beauty 
of the Himalayas burst upon us. We were encamped 
just under the mountains — too much under them to see 
the snowy range, but still nothing could be more 
beautiful than the first view of the range, and no 
wonder one hates plains. Colonel Y. had us out early 
in the morning to see his little Ghoorka regiment 



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113 



manoeuvre. Most of the men are about five feet six, 
with little hands and feet in proportion. All the 
mountaineers are very small creatures, but they make 
excellent little soldiers ; and the Ghoorkas beat our 
troops at this spot twenty-five years ago, and killed 
almost all the officers sent against them. Now they 
are our subjects they fight equally well for us, and 
were heard to say at Bhurtpore that they really 
thought some of our soldiers were nearly equal to 
themselves. They look like little black dolls. They 
are quite unlike natives. There is a regular fool 
attached to the regiment, who had stuck a quantity of 
wild flowers in his helmet, and came up and saluted 
G. with a large drawn sword in a most ridiculous 
manner. After that we went to see a Sikh temple, 
where there was a great festival, and about a hundred 
fakeers, the most horrid-looking monsters it is possible 
to see. They never wear any clothes, but powder 
themselves all over with white or yellow powder, and 
put red streaks over their faces. They look like the 
raw material of so many Grimaldis. At eleven, the 
two ladies and five gentlemen of the station came to 
visit us ; and at four, Gr. and I set off, under Colonel 
Y.'s auspices, to see a cavern that has just been dis- 
covered about four miles from this, and which was 
found out in a very odd way. One of the soldiers had 
murdered his havildar out of jealousy, and escaped, 
and was taken, after a fortnight's search, in this cave, 
nearly starved to death. It is just the place where 
Balfour of Burley would have hid himself. I have 
not enjoyed a drive so much for ages, and it was 
through such a beautiful country — such hills and 

I 



114 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



valleys ! I wish we might settle at Deyrah for the 
rest of the term of our transportation. One of the 
worst parts of this journey is that we never can go 
even two yards from the camp without an officer with 
G. on account of the petitioners. When we got near 
the cave we found Colonel Y., Dr. G., and Captain 
M. at the entrance of a dark grotto, through which a 
stream was running. f Nothing to walk through/ 
Colonel Y. said, e not more than two feet deep, or two 
feet and a half at most,' and so in they all went ; 
but my bearers luckily declared they could carry 
the tonjaun through, and they contrived it, though 
sometimes one tumbled down, and then another, and I 
had once to sit at the bottom of it to prevent my head 
being knocked off by the rocks. It was a beautiful 
cavern about 500 yards long, and at the other end 
there was a tent, where G. and Colonel Y. had wisely 
established dry clothes, but the others who had not 
taken this precaution were glad to gallop home as fast 
as they could. 

Yesterday we started at half-past five in the car- 
riage, came five miles to the foot of the hills ; then the 
gentlemen got on the ponies, and F. and I into our 
jonpauns, which might just as well be called tonjauns — 
they are the same sort of conveyances, only they swing 
about more, and look like coffins. The mountaineers 
run up the hills with them in a wonderful manner. 
We were two hours going up precipices which, as 
Vivian Grey says, 'were completely perpendicular, 
* but with perhaps a slight incline inwards at the 

bottom,' and then we reached Colonel G.'s bungalow 
at Mussoorie. Such a view on all sides of it ! Nothing 



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115 



could be grander — good fires burning — and a nice 
sharp wind blowing. Pleasant ! 

We found our Bengalee servants, who had come on 
the day before, very miserable. They had slept in the 
open air and were starved with the cold, and were so 
afraid of the precipices that they could not even go to 
the bazaar to buy food. I dare say to people who 
have never even seen the smallest rise in the ground, 
not even a molehill, these mountains must be very 
terrific. 

While she was dressing me, Rosina was mimicking 
F.'s jemadar, who is in a particular state of fear. 
c There was poor Ariff, he buy great stick, and he put 
stick out so, and then he put his foot by it, and then 
he say, " Oh ! what me do next, me tumble if me 
move me stick or me foot."' I thought we should 
have been alarmed by what Miss T. said of her fears, 
but we went out on our ponies in the evening and 
cantered along the paths quite easily, though it is ugly 
looking down. One stumble, and horse and all must 
roll down out of sight. But, to be sure, how beautiful 
the hills are ! I am certain I shall grow strong again 
in a week at Simla, and as for ever being well in the 
plains, that is an evident impossibility, so far as I am 
concerned. 

Mussoorie, Monday, March 19. 

We went to the little Mussoorie church yesterday 
morning. The bearers are steady men, I have no 
doubt, but still I wish they would not race with each 
other ; for at the sharp corners where they try to 
pass, the outer jonpaun hangs over the edge, and I 
don't altogether like it. In the afternoon we took a 

I 2 



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UP THE COUNTRY. 



beautiful ride up to Landour, but the paths are much 
narrower on that side, and our courage somehow oozed 
out ; and first we came to a place where they said, 
s This was where poor Major Blundell and his pony 
fell over, and they were both dashed to atoms,' — and 
then there was a board stuck in a tree, ' From this 
spot a private in the Cameronians fell and was killed.' 
Just as if there were any use in adding that he was 
killed, if he fell — anybody might have guessed that. 

Then , who lived up here for three years, said he 

would take us home by a better path, and unluckily it 
was a worse one, and Ave had to get off our ponies and 
lead them, and altogether I felt giddy and thought 
much of poor Major Blundell ! But it is impossible to 
imagine more beautiful scenery. This morning we 
went to breakfast with Colonel M. and saw the whole 
extent of the snowy range, and very fine it is. It is a 
clever old range to have kept itself so clean and white 
for 5,000 years. As we came back we met Mars, who 
is quite happy here, with Ariff after him. I asked 
him what he was doing. ( J e veux absolument faire 
monter ce pauvre Ariff la haut.' — ( Do you like going, 
Ariff?' I said.— <Xo, ladyship.'— 'Don't you think the 
hills very beautiful?' — ( No, ladyship, very shocking;' 
and he made a face of such utter nausea it was impos- 
sible to help laughing. Mars said afterwards that 
Ariff flung himself on the ground and declared nothing 
should induce him to take another step. My jemadar 
in consequence was particularly puffed up about it, 
though I believe he disliked his walk quite as much. 
' I been to the Hospital, been to Macdonald Sahib, 
been everywhere where ladyship has been. Poor 



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117 



Ariff, lie fear much ! ' and he walked out with a smile 
of self-complacency at his superior courage. 

Rajpore, "Wednesday, March 21. 

We came down from Mussoorie Monday afternoon 
with great success, but the change in an hour from 
cold to heat made us all deaf to begin with, and half 
the servants were sick, and in the middle of the night 
I took one of my attacks of spasms. I always think 
Dr. D. in his heart must wish that they would begin 
twelve hours sooner. He always has to get up at one 
in the morning, and the spasm lasted till past three — 
such an inconvenient time when we have to march at 
half-past five. I really thought this time I should not 
have been able to go on, but somehow it always can 
be done when it cannot be helped ; and as all the tents 
were ready at the next station, I went for the first 
time in a palanquin — it saves the trouble of dressing, 
and I just moved from the bed into it. Gr. went out 
shooting again this morning on positive information of 
a tigress and three cubs, but as usual they could not 
be found. However, they have had some very good 
shooting. 

Thursday, March 22. 

We had a great deal of rain last night ; and so when 
we came to cross the Jumna this morning it was not 
fordable, and there never was such a mess — only three 
boats for all our camp. Two poor men were drowned 
in the night trying to swim over, and one or two 
camels were carried away, but found again. Then the 
road was so bad the carriage was not available, and I 
came part of the way on the elephant, which, as I was 



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not strong, shook me to atoms. We crossed at last, 
and then it appeared that everything had been 
drenched in the night, and there was not a bed nor 
a sofa to lie down on. Luckily, Rosina lent me her 
charpoy, a sort of native couch, and Dr. D. got a 
medicine chest, and gave me some laudanum, and now 
I am better again ; but of all the troubles in life for 
( an ailing body,' I think a march the most complete. 
It is a pouring day, but luckily very cool. Chance 
has been very ill for the last week, and I have made 
him over to-day to the surgeon of the body-guard, who 
has bled him, and says he can cure him. 

Friday, March. 23. 

TTe must luckily halt here three days, for half the 
people and things are still on the other bank. I am 
better to-day, and Chance is in a more hopeful state. 
As you will hear from us several times by the overland 
packet before this comes to hand, I may as well send 
this oh° without coming to the interesting crisis of 
Chance's fate ; but as the inflammation in his dear 
little chest is supposed to be subdued, you may feel 
tolerably easy. I, as usual, wind up with the obser- 
vation that your last letter was dated August o — 
seven months and three weeks old. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Camp, Xahtm, March 26, 1838. 

I sext off my last Journal from Raj ghaut, March 23. 
AYe got all our goods over the river on Friday evening, 



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119 



and marched Saturday, 24th. The regiment and the 
cavalry went the straight road, and we made an awfully 
long march of seventeen miles towards the hills. It 
was the last day of the dear open carriage, which 
has been the only comfort of my life in this march. 
Nothing is so tiresome as all the miserable substitutes 
for it — three miles of elephant and four of tonjaun, 
and then a pony. Both men and cattle get so tired 
in a long march, or when they are employed every 
day. The road is very pretty all through the Dhoon, 
and much cooler than the plains. Chance is better, 
thank you. I knew you would feel anxious about 
him. His constitution is dreadfully Indianised ; but 
perhaps the hills, and a judicious change of diet, may 
be of use. However, he is done for as an English dog ; 
he is just the sort of dog you see at Cheltenham. 

We came up to Nahun yesterday morning by means 
of elephants and jonpauns. The road was very steep, 
but nothing like that to Mussoorie. The Rajah of 
Nahun met us at the last stage, and came up the hill 
with us to-day. He has his palace at the top, a sort 
of hill fort, and about 100 soldiers — imitations of our 
soldiers — and a band of mountaineers, who played 
( God save the Queen ' with great success. He is 
one of the best-looking people I have seen, and is a 
Rajpoot chief, and rides, and hunts, and shoots, and 
is active. Nothing can be prettier than the scenery, 
and altogether Nahun is the nicest residence I have 
seen in India; and if the rajah fancied an English 
ranee, I know somebody who would be very happy to 
listen to his proposals. At the same time, they do say 
that the hot winds sometimes blow here, and that his 



126 



UP THE DOtTRTEY. 



mountains are not quite high enough ; and those points 
must be considered before I settle here. 

This morning we have been to see the palace, which 
is an odd collection of small rooms, painted and gilded 
in curious patterns — of course, no tables and chairs ; 
and indeed the only piece of furniture in the house 
was an English barrel-organ, and in one of the rooms 
downstairs there was a full-grown tiger, tolerably tame, 
and a large iron pot full of milk for his dinner. 

Xaramglmr. March 28. 

"We rejoined the other camp this morning. "We 
came down the mountains from Xahun on Monday 
afternoon with great success as far as we were con- 
cerned, but a great many of the camels suffered from 
it. and we passed several utterly unable to move. 
G. and I rode the last five miles. By remaining at 
Nahun till the afternoon, we reduced ourselves to one 
tent — all the others were obliged to go on for to-day's 
use, and there is something particularly uncomfortable 
in a general tent. 

One chair and table for G. at one end, with a 
supplv of office boxes, two sofas for F. and me, with 
a book a-piece, and two cane chairs for A. and B., 
each pretending to read, but looking uncomfortable and 
stiff. I missed my old parasol about three days ago, 
and discovered to-day that J-immund had applied to my 
jemadar for it, because he thought Chance's ailments 
were brought on by the sun ; and Wright says she 
passed him to-day marching down the hill with Chance 
in one hand and the parasol held over him with the 
other a pretty idea. This morning I came on in the 



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121 



palanquin, a wretched substitute for the carriage, but 
anything is better than sitting bolt upright before 
breakfast — in fact, it is quite impossible. 

W. has had great sport at last — at least, everybody 
says it is great sport. I cannot imagine anything 
more unpleasant. They found six tigers at once in 
a ravine. Two charged W.'s elephant, and three 
General E.'s ; one of them disturbed a hornet's nest, 
and W. says he has since taken fifty stings out of his 
face. The bank of the ravine gave way, and he and 
his elephant came down within a yard of one tiger, 
which was however too much wounded to do any harm. 
Altogether the party have killed eight, and are coming 
back very much delighted with having been very nearly 
eaten up, and then stung to death. 

Kaepore, Thursday, March 29. 

Only five more days. I get such fits of bore with 
being doddled about for three hours before breakfast 
in a sedan-chair, that I have a sort of mad wish to 
tell the bearers to turn back and go home, quite home, 
all the way to England. I wonder if I were to call 
6 coach ' as loud as I could, if it would do any good. 
It would be a relief to my feelings. An unfortunate 
Brahmin came to Dr. D. at JNTahun in the most horrible 
state of agony, from that disease of which poor 

Mr. died. Dr. D. had him carried down, and 

yesterday he attempted the cure. Anything so horrible 
as the man's screams I never heard ; indeed, I thought 
it was some animal, and sent out to ask what was 
the matter. It was the longest and worst operation 
Dr. D. said he ever witnessed, but the man insisted 



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on it. His family have cut liirn off, but if he lives, 
it will be very easy to give him all he wants. He 
is very ill, and had to be carried on thirteen miles in 
a dhoolie. 

Friday, March 30. 
That Brahmin is better, and Dr. D. thinks he will 
live. We had a melancholy letter to-day, with an 
account of poor Mr. S.'s death. He died of abscess 
on the liver — of India, in fact. I think his health 
had begun to fail before we left Calcutta, but we had 
not heard of his being ill till a week ago. I am very 
sorry on all accounts. He was an excellent man, and 
very much to be loved ; and then she is left with 
eleven children, of whom three only are provided for. 
It is melancholy to think how almost all the people 
we have known at all intimately have in two years 
died off, and that out of a small society. JS T one of 
them turned fifty; indeed, all but Mr. S. between 
thirty and forty. Mr. C, who is with us, was saying 
yesterday that he had been stationed a few years ago 
at Delhi. ( I liked it ; we were a very large party of 
young men, but I am the only survivor.' And he is 
quite a young man. 

That Brahmin is very much better, and Dr. D. has 
no doubt he will recover. The Brahmins' diet leaves 
them so little susceptible of fever, that if they do 
not sink under an operation they recover rapidly. Gr. 
held a sort of durbar to-day, in which he gave the 
soubadars (or native officers) of the regiment which 
has escorted us, shawls and matchlocks, the same to 
the cavalry, and to the native officers of our body- 



UP THE COUXTEY. 



123 



guard. They have all conducted themselves most 
irreproachably during this long march, and they are 
a class of men who ought to be encouraged. There 
were about thirty of them in all ; and at the end, after 
praising them and their respective colonels, he poured 
attar on their hands and gave them paun, which they 
look upon as the greatest distinction. 

They were extremely pleased, and all our servants 
were quite delighted, and said that ( our lordship was 
the first that had ever been so good to natives.' I 
am glad it went off so well, for the idea, between 
ourselves, was mine ; and as there is a great jealousy 
and great fear about liberality, it was disapproved of 
at first by the authorities, but Gr. took to it after a day 

or two, and I mentioned it surreptitiously to , 

who manages that part of the department. Gr. is 
quite of opinion that there is too much neglect of 
meritorious natives, and that it is only marvellous our 
dominion over them has resisted the system of mal- 
treatment, which was even much more the fashion 
than it is now. Even now it is very painful to hear 
the way in which even some of the best Europeans 
speak to those Rajpoot princes, who, though we have 
conquered them, still are considered as kings by their 
subjects, and who look like high-caste people. 

Sabathoo, Monday, April 2. 

On Saturday evening, at Pinjore, we gave a farewell 
dinner to all the camp, and went after dinner to some 
beautiful gardens belonging" to the Puttealah rajah. 
He is not here himself, but he had had these gardens 
lit up for us, and the fountains were playing, and all 



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the best nautch-girls had been sent from Puttealah, 
and altogether it was a very magnificent fete. 

People may abuse nautching, but it always amuses 
me extremely. The girls hardly move about at all, 
but their dresses and attitudes are so graceful I like to 
see them. Then* singing is dreadful, and very noisy. 

We went on to Barr the next afternoon ; it is such 
a hot place that we wished to have as few hours of it 

as possible. We found nearly exhausted by the 

labour of passing on our goods ; every camel trunk 
takes on an average eight men, and we have, several 
hundred camel trunks of stores alone. Colonel T., 
the political agent, had, however, arrived with a rein- 
forcement of coolies, and everything was progressing. 
That Brahmin is so much better that Dr. D. sent him 
home from here, and we gave him all that he required 
for his expenses. We were called at half-past three 
this morning — is not that almost too shocking ? human 
nature revolts from such atrocities — and at four we 
were all stowed away in our jonpauns and jogging by 
torchlight up some perpendicular paths, which might 
be alarming, but I could not keep awake to see. 

We were four hours coming to Sabathoo. Colonel T. 
provided us with a house. We have had sundry alarms 
that our beds were gone straight to Simla. Some of 
the servants knocked up, but upon the whole it has 
been a less alarming expedition than Sir G. R. said we 
should find it. Colonel T. has asked all Sabathoo, 
consisting of nine individuals, to meet us, which we 
could have spared, considering we are to be up at 
half-past three again to-morrow. 



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Simla, April 3. 

Well, it really is worth all the trouble — such a 
beautiful place— and our house, that everybody has 
been abusing, only wanting all the good furniture 
and carpets we have brought, to be quite perfection. 
Yiews only too lovely ; deep valleys on the drawing- 
room side to the west, and the snowy range on the 
dining-room side, where my room also is. Our sitting- 
rooms are small, but that is all the better in this 
climate, and the two principal rooms are very fine. 
The climate ! No wonder I could not live down 
below ! We never were allowed a scrap of air to 
breathe — now I come back to the air again I remem- 
ber all about it. It is a cool sort of stuff, refreshing, 
sweet, and apparently pleasant to the lungs. We 
have fires in every room, and the windows open ; red 
rhododendron trees in bloom in every direction, and 
beautiful walks like English shrubberies cut on all 
sides of the hills. Good ! I see this is to be the best 
part of India. 

April 7. 

This must go to-morrow. Simla is still like Major 
Waddell, c all that is brave, generous, and true.' Gr. 
and I took such a nice ride yesterday round the 
highest mountain, to which is given the sublime name 
of Jacko ; but Jacko is a grand animal. You may 
be quite comfortable about our healths here, as far 
as climate goes ; it is quite perfection, and altogether 
the Himalayas are sweet pretty little hills. I have 
just unpacked your picture, which has been four 
months in a camel trunk, and is more like you 
than ever. 



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CHAPTER XVII. 

Simla, Good Friday, April 13, 1838. 

I had better make a beginning at last. A heap of sea 
letters came this morning, and, amongst others, one of 
your dear boohs which I have been pining for, and a 
Journal from E. to me, and from T. to F., of the 20th 
of January, and Mr. D.'s to me the same date ; so now 
I begin to know all about you again — your young days 
of 1837, and your old age of 1838. I begin to catch 
an idea of your character — but the state of confusion I 
have been in for four days between these two packets ! 
There was Miss Ryder the Second reigning in the 
schoolroom, and I without an idea whether the usurper 
Capplische had been dethroned and beheaded, or whe- 
ther it had been a regular succession, a natural death 
of Capplische, and a young Ryder mounting the throne 
in right of her descent. 

Then Charley was going back to Eton. I never 
knew you thought of sending him there at all. I went 
all about the house, asking about him and his school. 
The old khansamah could not recollect ; the jemadar 
thought it must be just what the Lady Sahib thought; 
the aides-de-camp would ( write and ask at once ' (their 
favourite phrase), but still it was not clear — and now I 
have your letter of reasons and intentions. Then 
Newsalls had become ( home,' your shell, your manor- 
house, and you had never explained it to me. Now 
that I see the damask bed-room, and the girls' rooms, 
and the library, I am better, though I still think it 



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would have been a delicate attention if you had de- 
scribed cursorily my room. A southern aspect you 
will of course attend to ; I shall be chilly ! This dear 
Simla ! it snowed yesterday, and has been hailing to- 
day, and is now thundering, in a cracking, sharp way 
that would be awful, only its sublimity is destroyed by 
the working of the carpenters and blacksmiths, who 
are shaping curtain rods and rings all round the house. 
It has been an immense labour to furnish properly. 
We did not bring half chintz enough from Calcutta, 
and Simla grows rhododendrons, and pines, and violets, 
but nothing else — no damask, no glazed cotton for 
lining — nothing. There is a sort of country cloth made 
here — wretched stuff, in fact, though the colours are 
beautiful — but I ingeniously devised tearing up whole 
pieces of red and of white into narrow strips, and then 
sewing them together, and the effect for the dining- 
room is lovely, when supported with the scarlet border 
painted all round the cornice, the doors, windows, &c. ; 
and now everybody is adopting the fashion. 

Another grievance that took Wright and me by sur- 
prise was, that of all our head tailors whom we had 
brought from Calcutta, none had ever seen the drapery 
of a curtain. Bengal has no curtains ; so Wright had 
to cut out everything herself. It is in these times of 
emergency that the value of the European servants 
rises. Giles has nailed up every curtain himself. G. 
has made over to him the care of the garden, and he is 
perfectly happy with it, and in a state of the greatest 
importance. e I hope we may have rain to-night, 
ma'am, and I can bring a few asparagus from my 
garden ; and perhaps you will just look at these tickets. 



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I can manage common things, but my lord's hard 
names for flowers quite puzzle me.' The kitchen 
garden is at least half a mile off, clown cue of the 
steepest hills, and Giles has been to tell me that unless 
he has a pony he really cannot be as much in the 
garden as he should wish. His horse was left with 
Webb. I have told him to ride for the present a pony 
that was sent to G. by one of the hill rajahs, one of 
what we in our patois call the Mizzer horses, and I 
fondly hope that if old B. sees Giles on it, he will roll 
down a precipice with the shock. He will think we 
are going to appropriate the Mizzers. 

This is the first day I have been out of my room, or 
hardly out of bed, for a week. 

April 22. 

I am quite well again now, thank you, and have 
begun riding and walking again, and the climate, the 
place, and the whole thing is quite delightful, and our 
poor despised house, that everybody abused, has turned 
out the wonder of Simla. We brought carpets, and 
chandeliers, and wall shades (the great staple com- 
modity of India furniture), from Calcutta, and I have 
got a native painter into the house, and cut out patterns 
in paper, which he then paints in borders all round' the 
doors and windows, and it makes up for the want of 
cornices, and breaks the eternal white walls of these 
houses. Altogether it is very like a cheerful middle- 
sized English country-house, and extremely enjoyable. 
I do not mean to think about the future (this world's 
future) for six months. It was very well to keep one- 
self alive in the plains by thinking of the mountains, 



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129 



or to dream of some odd chance that would take one 
home — there is no saying the odd inventions to go 
home that I had invented — but now I do not mean to 
be imaginative for six months. 

Kunjeet Singh wants to see Dr. D., and so he is to 

accompany Mr. , W., and M., who go in about a 

fortnight, to take G.'s compliments, &c. I was asking 
Dr. D. who was to keep in our little sparks of life 
while he is away, and he does not seem to know yet. 

April 29. 

There never was such delicious weather, just like 
Mr. Wodehouse's gruel, ( cool, but not too cool ; ' and 
there is an English cuckoo talking English — at least, 
he is trying, but he evidently left England as a cadet, 
with his education incomplete, for he cannot get fur- 
ther than cuck — and there is a blackbird singing. We 
pass our lives in gardening. We ride down into the 
valleys, and make the syces dig up wild tulips and 
lilies, and they are grown so eager about it, that they 
dash up the hill the instant they see a promising-look- 
ing plant, and dig it up with the best possible effect, 
except that they invariably cut off the bulb. It cer- 
tainly is very pleasant to be in a pretty place, with a 
nice climate. Not that I would not set off this instant, 
and go dak all over the hot plains, and through the hot 
wind, if I were told I might sail home the instant I 
arrived at Calcutta; but as nobody makes me that 
offer, I can wait here better than anywhere else — like 
meat, we keep better here. All the native servants 
are, or have been, sick, and I do not wonder. We have 
built twenty small houses since we came, and have 

K 



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lodged fifty of our servants in these outhouses. Still, 
there were always a great many looking unhappy, so 
I got J. to go round to all the houses and get me a 
list of all who were settled, and of those whose houses 
were not built, and I found there were actually sixty- 
seven who had no lodging provided for them. I should 
like to hear the row English servants would have 
made, and these are not a bit more used to rough it. 
There is not one who has not his own little house at 
Calcutta, and his wife to cook for him ; so they feel 
the cold and their helplessness doubly, but they never 
complain. "\Ye have got them now all under tents, 
and their houses will be finished before the rains, but 
in the meantime I wonder they are all so patient. We 
have given several dinners, and one dance, which was 
an awful failure, I thought, but they say the Simlaites 
liked it. If so, their manners were very deceptive. 

Simla, May 7. 

TTe have had the Sikh deputation here for nearly a 
week. The durbar was put off from Saturday, as we 
had on Saturday and Sunday two regular hill rainy 
days, an even down-pour, that was a great trial to the 
flat mud roofs, and a thick mist quite up to the 
windows. It is the sort of thing that lasts for two 
months during the rains, but it has no business to 
come misting into our houses now. However, the 
clearing up on Sunday was worth seeing. The hills 
were so beautiful and purple, and such masses of white 
clouds sailing along the valleys. The Sikh deputation 
came on Monday. There are six principal people, one 
of them a young cousin of Runjeet Singh's, and 



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another a fakeer who is Runjeet's chief confidant and 
adviser, and a clever man. He is dressed outwardly 
as a fakeer ought to be, in coarse brown cloth ; but if 
that opens a little, there is underneath a gold dress 
embroidered in seed pearl. Captain M. and I arranged 
the rooms according to our own fancy, and we made 

out a much better-looking durbar than when 

takes our house in hand, and desecrates it with ugly 
white cloth, to ensure the natives taking off their shoes. 
We covered the rooms with scarlet linen, which looked 
very handsome, and equally ensured that etiquette, and 
saved the appearance of a drying-ground. It is not 
like a common durbar for tributaries, who are dismissed 
in five minutes, but this lasted an hour. Gr., in a gilt 
chair, in the centre, the six Sikh chiefs and Mr. B. at 
the right hand, and all the envoys, forty of them, in 
full dress and solemn silence, in a circle all round the 
room, and in the folding-doors between the two rooms 
a beautiful group of twelve Sikhs, who had no claim 
to chairs, but sat on the floor. And before this circle 
Gr. has to talk and to listen to the most flowery non- 
sense imaginable, to hear it translated and retranslated, 
and to vary it to each individual. It took a quarter of 
an hour to satisfy him about the maharajah's health, 
and to ascertain that the roses had bloomed in the 
garden of friendship, and the nightingales had sung in 
the bowers of affection sweeter than ever, since the 
two powers had approached each other. Then he 
hoped that the deputation had not suffered from the 
rain ; and they said that the canopy of friendship had 
interposed such a thick cloud that their tents had re- 
mained quite dry, which was touching, only it did so 

K 2 



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happen that the tents were so entirely soaked through 
that Runjeet Singh had been obliged to hire the only 
empty house in Simla for them. Their dresses were 
beautiful, particularly the squatting group in the centre, 
and it is a great pity there was no painter here. 

Wednesday, May 9. 

We were at home yesterday evening. I went to see 
Miss R. in the morning, and she told me that the ladies 
at Simla had settled that they would not dance, be- 
cause the Sikh envoys were asked, and they had no 
idea of dancing before natives. Considering that we 
ask forty natives to every dance we give at Calcutta, 
and that nobody ever cares, it was late to make any 
objection ; and Miss B. said that she begged to say 
that being in deep mourning, and not naturally a 
dancer, she meant to dance every quadrille, if there 
were any difficulty about it, just to show what she 
thought of their nonsense. However, they all thought 
better of it before the evening. There were only 
three ladies out of the whole society absent, and an 
absolute difficulty about room for the dancers ; and our 
aides-de-camp had quite a rest, from the ladies being 
engaged for seven or eight quadrilles. The Sikhs 
were very quiet and well-behaved. Two of them had 
seen English dancing before, and were aware that the 
ladies were ladies, and not nautch-girls ; and I hope 
they explained that important fact to the others. If 
not we shall never know it, as there are hardly any of 
them that speak even Hindustani. I own, when some 
of the dancers asked for a waltz, which is seldom 
accomplished, even in Calcutta, I was afraid the Sikhs 



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L33 



migiit have been a little astonished; and I think 
Govind Jns gave Golaub Singh a slight nudge as 

General K whisked past with his daughter ; but 

I dare say they thought it pretty. The victim G. 
talked to Ajeet Singh via Mr. B. all the evening, and 
occasionally I tried a little topic to help him, but they 
would not like much talk from a woman. The poor 
ignorant creatures are perfectly unconscious what a 
very superior article an Englishwoman is. They think 
us contemptible, if anything, which is a mistake. Mr. 
B. said he had never met with greater quickness in 
conversation than in that young Ajeet Singh. G. said 
that he regretted his ignorance of their language pre- 
vented his acquiring so much information respecting 
the maharajah as he wished, to which Ajeet Singh 
answered, that the Lord Sahib possessed the key of 
all knowledge in his natural talents and sense. I said 
to Mr. B., 6 Tell them that you are,, in fact, Lord A.'s 
key of knowledge, as you expound everything to him.' 
He translated this in his usual literal way, and Ajeet 
Singh paid him some compliment in return, and added, 
e But though the rays of the sun strike the earth, it is 
from the sun itself that the beam draws its light.' 
They are all in a horrid fright of their master, which is 
not surprising. G. asked their opinion about a boat, 
one of the beautiful snake-boats with one hundred 
rowers which he is going to build as a present to Bun- 
jeet, and he wanted them to say what colours, orna- 
ments, &c, would please him ; but they declined giving 
any opinion on a subject that they had not been 
instructed to speak upon, and Mr. B. said he actually 
heard Ajeet Singh's heart beat from fear that he might 



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be led into any advice that might be repeated to Run- 
jeet. Amongst the presents they brought there is 
such a lovely bed, with silver posts and legs, and 
yellow shawl curtains and counterpanes, and just the 
size for our little rooms at Kensington Gore. They 
can be had at Lahore for fifty pounds, and I certainly 
mean to bring one home. The silver is laid on very 
thin, and the shawls are not fine shaws, but the effect 
is very pretty. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Friday, May 11, 1838. 

T\Te went yesterday to the Sikh camp to see their 
troops. W i} F., and I went on first, for when G. 
comes with his tail on there is such a kicking and 
fighting amongst the horses, that it is not pleasant 
with a thousand feet of precipices on one side of the 
road. G.'s horse was more than usually vicious, and 
came to a regular fight with Sir G.'s. I wish every- 
body would stick to their ponies in this country. The 
Sikhs had pitched a very pretty shawl tent for us, with 
a silver chair and footstool for G. ; and the hills all 
round, with the Sikhs' showy horses and bright dresses 
in the foreground, made as pretty a picture as it is 
possible to see. Their soldiers were something like 
our recruits, I thought, and their firing on horse- 
back was very inferior to that of the local corps we 
saw on our march. Ajeet Singh joined in the firing 
at a mark, and seemed to shoot better than any of his 



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135 



followers, but there were always two or three of them 
who fired at the same time as he did, to make things 
quite certain. We had to ride home as hard as we 
could to be in time for a great dinner, and only had 
ten minutes for dressing. This morning G. had 
another durbar for a farewell to the deputation, and 
for giving presents in exchange of theirs. After the 
Sikhs had retired there were some hill rajahs intro- 
duced, rather interesting. One was the brother of an 
ex-rajah, whose eyes had been put out by the neigh- 
bour who took his territories. Another had been 
dethroned by Goulab Singh, who is one of the most 
powerful chiefs, except Runjeet, and a horrid character. 
Half his subjects are deprived of their noses and ears. 
This poor dethroned man, after a little formal talk, 
suddenly snatched off his turban and flung it at 
George's feet, and then threw himself on the ground, 
begging for assistance to get back his dominions. He 
cried like a child, and they say his story is a most 
melancholy one, but the Company are bound not to 
interfere. They can only give shelter in their 
territories. 

Monday, May 14. 
We had such a dreadful sermon at church yesterday 
from a strange clergyman. Mr. Y. always preaches 
here in the morning, and F. and I go in the afternoon 
to the church, when he has generally preached again ; 
but yesterday this sick gentleman took it into his head 
he was well enough to preach. He is rather cracked, 
I should think, though Y. declares not ; but I never 
will go again when he is to preach. He quoted 
quantities of poetry, and when he thought any of it 



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particularly pretty, he said it twice over with the most 
ludicrous actions possible. Then he imitated the voice 
with which he supposed Lazarus was called to come 
forth, and which he said must have been very loud, or 
Lazarus would not have heard it, and so he hallooed 
till half Simla must ha^e heard. Then he described 
an angel appearing — s a fine trumpeter ; ' and he held 
out his black gown at its full extent, to show how the 
angel's wings fluttered. All round the church people's 
shoulders were shaking and their faces hid, and there 
was one moment when I was nearly going out, for fear 
of giving a scream. It was a most indecent exit at 
last. Even Sir G. R. came out, wiping his eyes, and 
I came home in one of those fits of laughing and cry- 
ing which we used to have about i Pleasant but not 
correct,' or such like childish jokes, which always 
ended by giving you a palpitation. W. and Captain 
M. went yesterday with the Sikhs on their way to 
Runjeet. 

Thursday, May 17. 

I have had a great deal to write and to copy for G. 
this week, and am amazingly backward in my letters, 
and I opine it must be the knowledge of that fact 
which has induced the Bombay Government not to 
advertise any steamers. Monday we had a great 

dinner. There is a very pretty Mrs. up here — 

a sort of Malibran in look, but more regularly pretty, 
who also dined with us. Her husband cannot get 
leave from his office, and she is come up with two 
children, who look thoroughly Indianised. I always 
think those wives who are driven by health to be so 
many months away from their husbands, are rather in 



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137 



a dangerous situation in this country, where women 
are seldom left to take care of themselves ; but she 
seems to be a very nice person, and there is something 
in extreme beauty that is very attractive. On Tues- 
day we dined with the Commander-in-Chief, in order 
to attend Capt. Q.'s wedding ; it was got up with 
great care by the R.s. It went off remarkably well — 
Miss S. looked very pretty. Miss R., one bridesmaid, 
is rather handsome, and Miss T., the other, is a very 
handsome girl, but would have looked better if she 
had not ridden up from Barr (forty-two miles of the 
steepest hills) without stopping, whereby the sun had 
literally burnt all the skin off her shoulders through her 
habit. I lent her a blonde shawl, but it could not con- 
ceal the state of things. Most men talk of riding 
twenty miles in these mountains as a great feat, and 
I never can understand the extraordinary exertions 
that women sometimes make — and without dying of it, 
too. 

There was no crying at the wedding, and the young 
couple went off in two jonpauns, carried one after the 
other. There was no spare house in Simla, and they 
had meant to go into tents, but Captains N. and M. 
handsomely offered their house, which is the most 
retired and one of the best here. 

Saturday, May 19. 

F. has heard from W., who had been assisting at 
the evening firing at a mark, which is a constant 
practice with the Sikhs. Ajeet Singh put in one of 
his spears at forty yards' distance, and another at 
sixty, and put a mangoe on the head of one. He fired 



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twenty times without hitting either. TV. hit the 
mangoe at the second shot, and then hit the other 
spear three times running, and then thought it better 
to say he was tired, and could not shoot any more ; so 
the Sikhs all said ( TVah ! wah ! ' and were pleased. 
Dr. D. says the thermometer is at 96° in their tents 
with tatties, and outside there is a perfect simoom. 
Poor things ! it is so pleasant here. All Dr. D.'s 
medicines and instruments have been stolen from his 
assistant's tent. The stomach-pump was cut to pieces 
by the thieves — such a blessing for Runjeet's cour- 
tiers ! He tries all medical experiments on the people 
about him. How they would have been pumped ! 

Simla, Wednesday. 

It appears the J ournal I sent off to you last Satur- 
day will probably pass a month at Bombay, where this 
may still find it. G., in the plentitude of his power, 
ordered off a steamer to the Persian Gulf, for the 
Persians are behaving very ill to us, and the second 
steamer, which was to have supplied its place and to 
have taken the overland mail, is disabled. The 
weather, for Simla, is wonderfully hot — I should say 
painfully so, if I did not recollect the plains. Dr. D. 
writes word that in their houses at Adeenanu^gur 
(Runjeet's abode), with tatties and every possible pre- 
caution, the thermometer ranges from 102° to 105°. 
Calcutta never gets up to that, and then it is com- 
paratively cool there at night ; whereas, these hot 
winds are just the same all through the twenty-four 
hours. TV. does not mind them — at least, he says 
anything is better than Simla. 



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139 



Thursday. 

Our band played again yesterday at their new place, 
and it is a most successful attempt for the good of 
society, very much aided yesterday by the goodness of 
the strawberry ice. The weather is so dry and hot 
that Giles allowed us to have as many strawberries as 
could be picked, as they are all dying away. The 
strawberries here are quite as fine as in England, but 
they last a very short time. I never saw anything so 
pretty as the shrubs are just now. Both pink and 
white roses in large masses, and several other quite 
new shrubs. When we were riding yesterday we saw 
some coolies in the road with boxes on their heads, and 
I said, ( Let us go to them and persuade them that one 
of those boxes is ours ; ' and when we rode up there 
was one directed to Gr. We made sure it contained 
those bonnets of Mr. D.'s, which we have been looking 
for so long, but it turned out to be books, and a 
very neat selection — Ernest Maltravers, the Yicar of 
Wrexhill, Uncle Horace, Kindness in Women, &c, 
and some very amusing magazines. 

We had read the Vicar of Wrexhill last week ; I 
•think it such a clever book, though wicked. Those 
bonnets must come at last. I never see those coolies 
come trotting along, having traversed half India, un- 
watched and unguarded, without having the greatest 
respect for their honesty and perseverance. They get- 
about three rupees per month (six shillings), or some- 
times four, for walking six hundred miles with a heavy 
box on their heads. 

Saturday, June 9. 

We went to the play last night. There is a little 



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sort of theatre at Simla, small and hot and something 
dirty, but it does very well. Captain N. got up a 
prospectus of six plays for the benefit of the starving 
people at Agra, and there was a long list of sub- 
scribers, but then the actors fell out. One man took a 
fit of low spirits, and another who acted women's parts 
well would not cut off his mustachios, and another 
went off to shoot bears near the Snowy Range. That 
man has been punished for his shilly-shallying; the 
snow blinded him, and he was brought back rolled up 
in a blanket, and carried by six men also nearly blind 
— he was entirely so for three days, but has recovered 
now. Altogether the scheme fell to the ground, which 
was a pity, as the subscriptions alone would have en- 
sured 30/. every night of acting to those poor people. 
So when the gentlemen gave it up, the ( uncovenanted 
service ' said they wished to try. The 6 uncovenanted 
service ' is just one of our choicest Indianisms, accom- 
panied with our very worst Indian feelings. We say 
the words just as you talk of the 'poor chimney- 
sweepers,' or f those wretched scavengers' — the un- 
covenanted being, in fact, clerks in the public offices. 
Very well-educated, quiet men, and many of them 
very highly paid ; but as many of them are half-castes, 
we, with our pure Norman or Saxon blood, cannot 
really think contemptuously enough of them. In 
former days they were probably a bad class, but now 
a great many Europeans have been driven, by the 
failures of the banks here, to take that line, and 
amongst them are several thorough gentlemen. There 
were at least fifty of them in one camp attached to 
Government, and I never saw better behaved people. 



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141 



Some had horses, some gigs, and some their nice little 
wives in their nice little palkees ; two wives and two 
families packed up together, for economy, with the two 
husbands riding by the side of the carriage. And 
then in the evening we used to hear A. and B., &c, 
disputing and lamenting that they could not allow 
Mr. Y. and Mr. Z., and so on, to sit down in their 
presence. Well ! I dare say it is all right, or at least 
we are all equally wrong, for they are not allowed to 
enter Government House; and I see how it would be 
impossible to ask a white Mr. and Mrs. Smith, though 
they are better looking than half the people we know, 
without hurting the feelings of a half -black Mr. Brown. 
Even at the theatres they have distinct places. Now 
they have wisely taken to the stage, a great many of 
the gentry were even above going to see them act. 
However, we went, and lent them the band, and the 
house was quite full — and they really acted remarkably 
well, one Irishman in particular. There is a son of 
Mr. F.'s amongst them. We always in camp used to call 
him Sophia ; he looked like an actress dressed up in 
men's clothes — little ringlets, and a little tunic, and a 
hat on one side. They have got Sophia to act their 
heroines, and she looks quite at her ease restored to 
her female style of dress, and is, I dare say, equally 
a good clerk in General C.'s office. The play was 
over soon after ten. 

Wednesday, June 13. 

The weather is very hot here now, much hotter than 
an English summer; at least nobody can go out after 
seven or before six, and the nights are very close ; but 
of course everybody says it is a most extraordinary 



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season, as they always do in India. It must end in 
rain soon ; if it does not, the famine of this unfortunate 
country will be worse than ever. Captain M. and 
Mr. B. have both been ill with the dreadful heat at 
Adeenanuggur, and Dr. D. seems very anxious to get 
them away from there. I am quite sorry for the 
doctor. He left his little terrier here at his own 
house; it was a particularly clever little dog, and he 
doted on it, and there is very little doubt that it was 
eaten up, but whether by leopard or hyena remains a 
mystery. He will be wretched about it. and it places the 
happiness of the owners of little dogs generally on a 
wretchedly insecure footing. 

We have had a slight disturbance in our household, 
the first serious one since we sent away those servants 
at Benares for taking presents. This time it was 
rather our fault. The Puttealah Rajah always sends, 
with his fruit and vegetables, various bottles, some 
containing rose water, and the others some sort of spirits. 
We ought to have broken the last, but we told the 
native servants to divide everything amongst them, and 
one of the kitmutgars, who got for his share a bottle of 
these spirits, asked some of the others to dine with 
him, took great care to drink nothing but water him- 
self, and persuaded two others to get very drunk with 
what he called sherbet, and then they began to quarrel. 
It is such an extreme disgrace for a Mussulman to be 
drunk, and so degrading in the eyes of all the others, 
that J. turned them off forthwith. I was against it, 
as it had been a trick upon them, and partly our fault, 
but I only insisted on the giver of the feast being 
turned off too. As these men have only four shillings 



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143 



a week for themselves and families, of course they 
can save nothing, and if they are turned away at a dis- 
tance from home they really may die of starvation. 
They went crying about for three or four days, and 
tried Giles and Wright, who could not interfere ; 
and at last they watched me into my room yesterday, 
and came with two or three of the head servants to 
speak for them. I never can resist them ; they cry, 
and knock their heads against the ground, and always 
make use of such touching expressions — that they are 
so very wicked, and so very unhappy, and that God 
forgives everybody their faults, and that they must and 
will die if they are not forgiven. However, I was very 
firm, and said I knew it was no use asking Major J., and 
that I never could look upon them again as respectable 
servants, and that none of the old servants ever gave them 
such an example, and would not like to associate with 
them. But then the old ones turned against me ; and 
then I said, I would give them money to take them 
home, and then they cried still more about the dis- 
grace; so at last I said I would ask Major J., though 
I was sure it was of no use, &c. Sometimes he does 
take it amiss ; but this time he said, in his own diplo- 
matic way, that in fact he had sent them to me, for he 
knew I should not resist their grief, and as he had sent 
them away he did not know how otherwise to help 
them. Giles, to whose department they belong, had 
been miserable about them. 



144 



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CHAPTER XIX. 

Saturday, June 14, 1838. 
My last Journal departed this life on Tuesday last, and 
since then we have had almost unceasing rain, with a 
great deal of thick white fog, which I rather affection ; 
it somehow has a smell of London, only without the 
taste of smoked pea-soup, which is more germane to a 
London fog, and consequently to my patriotic feelings. 
The rain last night washed down one house, and 
killed the man in it ; and the roads have been carried 
down into the valleys, and the rocks washed into the 
roads, so that somehow our geography is not so clear 
as it was ; but still it is cool, and what else is there 
that signifies in India ? 

My Journal must be so very dull here, that I am 
thinking of converting it into a weekly paper. We do 
not even give any dinners now (not that they would 
make any difference). I was thinking how much jour- 
nals at home are filled with clever remarks, or curious 
facts, or even good jokes, but here it is utterly impos- 
sible to write down anything beyond comments on the 
weather. I declare I never hear in society anything 
that can be called a thing — not even an Indian thing — 
and I see in Sir James Mackintosh's Life, which I am 
just finishing for the third time, that, in his Indian 
journal, there is nothing but longings after home, and 
the workings of his own brain, and remarks on books ; 
whereas, in his English and Paris journals, there are 
anecdotes and witticisms of other people, and a little 
mental friction was going on. 



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145 



I am interested in Indian politics just now, but 
could not make them interesting on paper. Herat is 
still defending itself, but the Russians are egging on 
the Persians, and their agents are trying to do all the 
mischief they can on our frontier. Two Russian letters 
were intercepted, and sent to G. yesterday ; highly 
important, only unluckily nobody in- India can read 
them. The aides-de-camp have been all day making 
facsimiles of them, to send to Calcutta, Bombay, &c, 
in hopes some Armenian may be found who will trans- 
late them. It would be amusing if they turned out a sort 
of i T. and E. Journal ; ' some Caterina Iconoslavitch 
writing to my uncle Alexis about her partners. 

I went through the thick fog this morning to visit 
the R.s, and found them in a great fuss. They had 
been trying to get news in every direction without 
success. ' Pray, is it true what we heard yesterday 
morning, that the Governor-General had said he would 
burn Herat if he could ? ' I said it sounded plausible, 
as he probably did not wish Herat to fall into the 
enemy's hands. f Well, but then we heard that the 
Governor-General had said, in the afternoon, that he 
was against any warlike measure whatever ; that con- 
tradicts the morning story.' I recommended that they 
should always believe the afternoon anecdotes, because 
G. sees people in the morning, and he sees nobody 
after luncheon, so that what he says to other people 
might be less than the truth, but that what he says to 
himself, in the afternoon, must clearly be the real state 
of the case. 



L 



146 



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Sunday, June 17. 
Still pouring ! and our congregation consisted of 
only eight people besides Mr. Y. ; but it cleared- at 
five, and we rode all round i Jacko,' the imposing 
name of our highest mountain, as hard as we could 
canter. The hills were really beautiful to-night, a sea 
of pinkish white clouds rolling over them, and some of 
their purple heads peering through like islands. It was 
a pleasure to look at anything so beautiful and so 
changeable. The clouds drew up like curtains in 
massy folds every now and then, and there were the 
valleys grown quite green in three days, just tinged 
with the sunbeams, the sun itself hidden ; and the 
icant of shape for which these hills are to blame on 
common occasions was disguised by all this vapoury 
dress. I love hills, but I have discovered by deep 
reflection that we are such artificial animals, that the 
recollections of art are much more pleasing and stronger 
in my mind than those of nature. In thinking over 
past travels, Rubens' ' Descent from the Cross ' at 
Antwerp, and Canova's 6 Magdalene,' and one or two 
Vandycks at Amsterdam, and parts of TTestminster 
Abbey and of York Minster, come constantly into my 
thoughts ; and I can see all the pictures at Panshanger, 
particularly the Correggio, and many of those at TTo- 
burn and Bowood, as clearly as if they were hano-ino- 
in this room. There is a bit of grey sky in that 
4 Descent from the Cross' I shall never forget, whereas 
Killarney, and the Rhine, and the Pyrenees are all 
confused recollections, pleasant but not clear. And I 
am sure that in this country, though I do not admire 
Indian architecture, I shall recollect every stone of 



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147 



the Kootub and every arch about it, when these moun- 
tains will be all indistinct. In short, notwithstanding 
that i God made the country and man made the town,' 
I, after the fashion of human nature, enjoy most what 
God has given, and remember best what man has clone. 
How do you feel about nature and art ? Don't you 
love a fine picture ? After all, it is only nature caught 
and fixed. Another thing is, that all my associations 
with pictures and statues are those of pleasant society, 
and friends, and good houses, and youth and happiness, 
though I should love them for their own sakes too. 

Simla, Wednesday, June 20. 

I sent oif another lump of Journal last Saturday, 
but somehow I feel none of those last letters are 
sure of reaching vou. Thev will be drowned going 
overland, after the contrarious way of the world. We 
might have had your April packet by this time, but 
the Bombay dak has not been heard of at all for five 
days, and it is supposed the rivers have overflowed 
and that all your dear little letters are swimming for 
their lives. Our rains have begun, but they are not 
very different from English rains — at least hitherto 
it has been fine half the day. On Saturday morning 
they began with a grand thunder-storm, and a great 
splash of water, which would have been pleasant only 
that it took a wrong direction, and somehow settled in 
my ceiling, from which it descended in a variety of 
small streams, after the fashion of a gigantic shower- 
bath, on my carpet, tables, &c. Giles rushed in at 
the head of a valiant band of khalasses (Indian house- 
maids of the male gender), and carried off my books and 



148 



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pictures, and nothing was hurt, only you know your face 
might have been entirely washed out, which, as there 
is not another like it within 15,000 miles, would have 
been an irreparable calamity. The rest of the house 
behaved itself beautifully, and my room was put to 
rights in twenty-four hours. The instant these leaks 
are discovered, the flat roofs are covered with natives 
thumping away at the mud of which they are com- 
posed, as if noise were no grievance. A strange 
delusion ! 

Friday, June 22. 

I must copy out an extract from the ' Loodheeana 
News,' Runjeet's ' Morning Chronicle,' which Captain 
M. translated from the original Persian. 

There is an account of the arrival of our Mission at 
Adeenanugger, and then it goes on to say: ( On the fol- 
lowing day the Maharajah, having alighted in his silver 
ornamented bungalow, had an order sent through his 
counsellors and enlightened sao-es, that the state ele- 
phants adorned with golden howdahs should be sent 
for the purpose of bringing the Mission to the durbar. 
The news writers report that before the arrival of the 
deputation, the troops of the Maharajah, covered from 
head to foot with silver, jewels, and all manner of 
beautiful clothes, were drawn up before his doors, and 
such was their appearance that the jewel-mine, out of 
envy, drew a stone upon its head, the river sat upon 
the sand of shame, and the manufacturers of the hand- 
some cloths of Room (Constantinople) and Buper 
pulled down their workshops. The voices of the praise 
singers were raised from earth to heaven, and thus 
they spoke — s: God, may the gardens of these two 



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149 



mighty kingdoms continue prosperous and flourishing 
to the end of time ! May the enemies of these two 
rivers of justice and liberality, which day by day 
receive the waves of victory from the whole world, 
perish in the stream ! May the friends of these two 
clouds of power, which day by day shower down jewels 
on the inhabitants of the world, ever be victorious ! " 
As soon as the customary forms of meeting had been 
gone through, the gentlemen of the Mission were 
seated on silver chairs. Nearly two hours were occu- 
pied in asking questions regarding the health of the 
Governor-General. After this a letter from his lord- 
ship, locked up in a jewelled box, and every word of 
which was f ull of the desire for an interview with the 
Maharajah, was presented. The deputation then retired. 
We shall have more to say regarding this next week.' 

What delights me in that is that G.'s health should 
occupy two hours of enquiry. His illnesses have never 
been half so long, luckily. 

Thursday, June 28. 

I have had a letter from Dr. D., who gives a wretched 
account of their sufferings ; the thermometer had been 
for three days ranging from 107° to 110°. He says W. 
had at last given in, and announced that he could not 
live twenty-four hours more, but that he had left him 
sitting under a fountain, smoking his hookah, and in 
very good spirits ; he had little doubt he would live 
grumbling on. He is sending Captain M. home, and 
he will be here probably in a week, which I am very 
glad of. Dr. D. says that he considers him in a pre- 
carious state, though his lungs are not yet attacked, 



150 



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but he is so reduced that another week of such weather 
would be too much for him. 

They are all very much occupied in burying a live 
native — a man who has been described in various 
travels, who says he has the power of existing in a 
trance, and who has made a vow to be buried for twelve 
years. We have seen a great many people who have 
seen him buried, a guard placed and even a house 
built over the grave, and who have seen him dug up 
again at the end of two months apparently a corpse, 
but he comes to again. Dr. D. was quite incredulous, 
but says in his letter to-day that after hearing all the 
witnesses, and seeing the man, he has become quite a 
convert. Thev were all o-oino; to attend the buryino* 
in the afternoon, and the man had desired that he might 
not be dug up till the Governor-General's arrival at 
Lahore next Xovember. He offered to come and be 
buried here, but Kunjeet did not approve of it. 

TTe had a musical dinner yesterday, a borrowed 
pianoforte and singing, and two couples who accompany 
each other. The flute couple I think a failure, but 
they are reckoned in this country perfectly wonderful ; 
and they whispered quite confidentially, ' I suppose 

you are aware that before came out to this 

country, the famous Xicholson said he could teach him 
nothing more.' I suspect when he goes back the 
famous Xicholson will find he may throw in a lesson 
or two with good effect. The other couple are beau- 
tiful musicians. 

Monday, July 2. 

Captain P.'s house was robbed last night of about 
80^. worth of plate. One of his own servants is sup- 



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151 



posed to have done it, but there was another house at 
the other end of Simla broken open at the same time, 
and robbed of the same amount of plate, so there must 
be a gang of robbers in the bazaar, much to 's dis- 
grace. It is considered quite a shocking thing to have a 
robbery in India— pilfering is commendable and rather 
a source of vanity, but a robbery of an European is a 
sort of high treason in all native states, and the town 
pays for that loss. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Simla, Wednesday, August 8, 1838. 

I ought to have begun again sooner, as my last 
Journal was sent off this day week, but it appears it 
will have to wait at Bombay till the eighth of next 
month, so, as you may receive two at once, it will be 
rather in your favour if one week is omitted. 

It has rained almost literally without ceasing, with 
constant fog; but if it is clear for ten minutes the 
beauty of the hills is surpassing ; such masses of clouds 
about them and below them, and they are so purple 
and so green at this time of year. 

August 18. 

We had to go to another play last night. Luckily 
they only acted two farces, so we were home at ten, 
but anything much worse I never saw. There were 
three women's parts in the last farce, and the clerks 
had made their bonnets out of their broad straw hats 



152 



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tied on : they had gowns with no plaits in them, and 
no j^etticoats nor bustles. One of them, a very black 
half-caste, stood presenting his enormous flat back to 
the audience, and the lover observed, with great pathos, 
i Upon my soul ! that is a most interesting-looking 
little gurlS 

It seems very uncertain when our next overland 
packet will come. The steamers could not get there, 
and there is nothing but an Arab sailing-vessel to 
brino- the letters here. I have no faith in the Arabs 
as postmen. I had two here yesterday to draw. They 
followed Captain B. from Cabul, and are genuine 
£ Children of the Desert.' They are very unlike our 
quiet natives, and laughed so much all the time, that I 
could hardly draw them ; but they make excellent 
sketches. I often wish for Landseer here. 

Wednesday, Aug. 22. 

There ! this must go. We had a great dinner on 
Monday, and another fainting lady. Somebody always 
faints here. I myself believe that, though they do not 
like to say so, it is the Jleas that make them ill. You 
cannot imagine the provocation of those animals during 
the rains. W. was really ill for two days with them — : 
irritation and want of sleep — and was obliged to see 
Dr. D. The worst of it is, that the more the house is 
cleaned and tormented, the worse the fleas get, Thev 
belong to the soil, and even the flower-garden is full 
of them. They say that plague is to cease next 
month, which is a comfort. 

A box of new books arrived yesterday, just as we 
were at the last gasp — and such a good set ! Perhaps 



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253 



the Annuals might have been left out, but other people 
like to see them ; and then, by great good luck, we 
had not seen one of the other books, though they had 
been nine months coming. 6 Lady Annabella,' e Ethel 
Churchill,' ( Pascal Bruno,' &c. We are now in that 
age of literature. I wish you would buy on my 
account a copy of ( La Marquise de Pontange ' and 
6 Le Pere Goriot,' and send them out, and I wish you 
would send yourself out with them. That would be 
the real book to read over again. 

[A portion of the Journal being lost, these letters 
of the same dates are here inserted, to carry on the 
narrative.] 

Letter to the Countess of B. 

Simla, August 20, 1838. 

My dearest Sister, 

I am going to run off a few short letters to-day 
and to-morrow, just to show what I would have done, 
if letters would ever go — but they won't. They say 
there is an accumulation of three months' letters lying 
at Bombay. There has been a monsoon, and a want 
of coals, and a burst boiler, and every sort of excuse. 
I wish, when you are driving about, you would just 
call at the dockyards* in your neighbourhood, and 
mention that we are not at all satisfied with the steamers 
they send us out ; that you think yourself, their last 
bowsprits are a shame to be seen, and you might 
add, that if you do not get your letters a little more 



* Woolwich. 



154 



UP THE COUXTKY. 



regularly, you really must speak about employing some 
other cast-iron men. Somehow, out of four steamers 
at Bombay, there has not been one available, and we 
are now expecting our letters of June by some Arab 
proa, or some sailing-vessel. TTe may expect, I fancy, 
with a witness ! I have not much news for you, as I 
doubt (though I think you a wonderfully clever woman) 
whether you are quite up to the nuances of the Cabul 
and Candahar politics. 

TTe gain one little good by this war. The army 
cannot muster at Ferozepore till the 20th of Xovember, 
and Sir Gr. E.. wishes Gr. not to meet Runjeet Singh 
till he can escort him at the head of 10,000 men, so 
that gives us three more cool weeks here, and takes 
off three very hot weeks of the plains. The heat 
subsides about December. F. and I shall be the only 
ladies in the whole camp. All our own ladies stay up 
here, bored to death to be without their husbands, but 
they would be still more bored if they had to drag 
their children through another long march. Besides, 
there are great difficulties this time for tents, -carriages, 
&c, and then it is to be hoped we shall make a much 
shorter journey, and come up here again. 

It has rained without ceasing since I wrote last — 
an excellent thing for India, and not so unpleasant 
for us as it sounds. 

TThen I say f without ceasing,' it very often stops 
raining for half an hour in the afternoon, and then the 
drip and the fog do not count. 

We all get on our ponies the moment it is fair, and 
go cantering past each other, saying, ( How delightful 



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155 



to be out again/ and 6 I think we shall get wet ' — and 
then that is enough exercise for two days. It is sup- 
posed the rains are breaking up now, as we have had 
three fine evenings, one of which we devoted to drop- 
ping in after dinner familiarly at the Commander-in- 
Chief's, to have tea and a rubber of whist. 

Don't you see how free-and-easy that looked ? Three 
jonpauns — like upright coffins — rushing rapidly through 
the bazaar, with a long train of torch-bearers and hir- 
karus and three aides-de-camp, in full uniform, all 
( dropping in? G. and I, and Sir G. R. and Colonel 
U., always play at whist, and the others at a round 
game which is much livelier. I rather like whist, and 
think it will be one of the small vices of my old a^e. 

I have been doing a quantity of drawings for the 
fancy sale. I wish you could buy some. There is a 

Mr. here who draws beautifully, and he is doing a 

picture for me of three of the fattest objects in nature — ■ 
my pony, Chance, and Chance's boy. I do not mean 
Chance's own man, but his footboy, the boy who 
cleans his shoes and whets his razors. He was one of 
the skeletons whom the servants picked up in the 
starving districts, and, like most of those skeletons, 
the reaction has been frightful, and the little wretch 
is such an extraordinary figure, particularly seen in 
profile, that he makes everybody laugh. It will be a 
curious picture ; and I never saw anything so well done 
as the pony. 

I mentioned our fleas to you, I think, in my last 
letter. They are worse than ever, and bestow their 
liveliest attentions on W. and me. For the last three 



156 



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nights we have neither of ns had any sleep, and the 
more the rooms are cleaned and worried the livelier the 
fleas are. 

We want some new books. I am sure Mr. Wilber- 
force's Life will be e sweet pretty reading.' I have 
just re-read Mrs. Hannah More's Life ; that is a jewel 
of a book both for amusement and for good. I like it 
much better than I did the first time ; and now I have 
taken for my morning book in bed (I always wake 
early) dear Madame de Sevigne for the 117th time. 
It is a very affecting book amongst other merits. She 
was such a good, warm-hearted woman, and was not 
loved enough. I wish she was not dead and was here ! 
We rather want more letters about the fashions. I am 
quite certain, from the unmitigated hatred I feel to 
the tight bit at the top of my sleeves, that you have all 
got rid of it, and are swaggering about in the fullest 
of sleeves again. Indeed, if you are not, it would be 
only benevolent to say you are ! 

Letter to J. C, Esq. 

Simla, Wednesday, Aug. 22. 

This is to be really a short letter, for I have sent off 
so many that I have not the fraction of a new idea left ; 
but I feel it my duty to encourage you in your excel- 
lent habit of writing. The letters do not come, on 
account of the monsoon ; but still I feel confident, from 
my intimate knowledge of your character, that yours is 
an excellent habit of writing, when the monsoon does 
not set itself against it. 

I think it has rained incessantly since I wrote to 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



your mother last, and most people have passed their 
time in mopping up the wet in their houses, but ours 
has behaved like an angel, and since the first day has 
never had a leak. The roofs here are all flat, and made 
of mud beat into a stiff consistency ; but when the 
rain does get through, the drippings are of a muddy 
nature. Captain M., after moving into every corner 
of his house, used to write under an umbrella ; and 
Captain B. and his companion Dr. S. have dined every 
day in their house with umbrellas held over their heads 
and their dinners. Still, I do not dislike the rain so 
much as most people do. There is often a fine half- 
hour before sunset, in which it is easy to take a canter, 
quite long enough for the exercise of the day ; and 
whenever it is not actually pouring, the hills are per- 
fectly beautiful and the evening skies are not amiss. 
Then it is always cool, and people should make much 
of that blessing. We had an arrival two days ago of 
a box of new books ; that is, new to us. You may 
remember them in the early part of the reign of Vic- 
toria the First, but the pleasure of seeing them is very 
great. I have read all our old ones (and we have a 
great collection) at least three times over, even in- 
cluding the twenty-one volumes of St. Simon, which I 
read once on board ship and now again here ; and it 
certainly is a wonderfully amusing book. I must have 
begun it again if the box had not appeared. To think 
of our only having yet received in this legal, direct 
manner, the eighteenth number of Pickwick ! We 
finished it six months ago, because it is printed and 
reprinted at Calcutta from overland copies. Mais, je 
vous demande un pen — what should we have done, if 



158 



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we had waited for the lawful supply, to know Pick- 
wick's end ? I see you are making a great fuss about 
copyrights, &c, which I cannot understand, as we see 
it only by bits and scraps ; but I beg to announce that 
I am entirely for piracy and surreptitious and cheap 
editions, and an early American copy of an English 
novel for three rupees, instead of a late English one 
at twenty-two shillings. ( Them's my sentiments ' for 
the next three years at least. As it is, I am reading 
with deep attention s Lady Annabeila,' by the author 
of i Constance,' which was, I remember, a remarkably 
pretty novel ; and so is this, only the heroine will call 
her mother 6 My lady.' I keep hoping it is a joke, 
and pretend to laugh every time it occurs, but it looks 
frightfully serious at times. Perhaps the fashion of 
calling one's mother f My lady ' may have come in, 
though, since my time. 

All our 2)lans have come into shape, and rather 
satisfactorily. We shall not leave this till the first 
week in November, when the great heat of the plains 
will be over. We are to meet Runjeet on the 20th, 
or thereabouts, at Ferozepore, when also the army 
will be assembled under Sir Gr. R. 

There will be a review of the army before it o;oes 
down the river ; and though we talk of our interview 
taking only a fortnight, everybody says we shall be 
kept there a month. That will luckily not leave us 
time for a very long march, and the probability is that 
we shall only go to Agra, and come up here again in 
March. 



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159 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Journal continued. 

Simla, Sunday, Sept. 2, 1838. 
This is your birthday, and an excellent reason for 
starting again in my Journal. I wish you a great 
many of them, dearest ; only please to be economical, 
and don't spend them lavishly, till I come home to be 
with you. 

We have not done much since my last Journal went. 
We had a meeting of ladies to settle about the fancy 
sale, which was easily done, as before they came I 
wrote a paper of proposals and they all read it, and 
said it would do very well ; and if we can only find 
anything to sell, I dare say we shall sell it very well. 
It is to be held in a very pretty valley called Annan- 
dale, and Gr. gives some silver prizes to be shot for by 
the Ghoorkas, and M. is trying to get up some pony 
races. The only novelty I suggested was to ask the 
wives of the uncovenanted service (the clerks in public 
offices) to send contributions. This was rather a shock 
to the aristocracy of Simla, and they did suggest that 
some of the wives were very black. That I met 
by the argument that the black would not come 
off on their works, and upon the whole it was con- 
sidered that we should not lose consequence, and might 
be saved trouble, by sending a printed paper round to 
each of their houses. I have done a quantity of draw- 
ings, which Mr. C. is to sell by auction. The rain 



160 



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still continues, but not so unceasing as it was, and as it 
lets us get out and prevents our giving balls, I think it 
a very nice time of year. 

Wednesday, Sept. 5. 
I have had Mr. D.'s June letter, which is always 
satisfactory, and is one of those gentlemanlike epistles 
(I don't mean genteel, but pithy and to the point, and 
like a gentleman in contradistinction to a lady) that 
make most eligible letters in these foreign parts. G. 
always opens and reads Mr. D.'s letters to us before 
we see them, because he says he gets so much news 
out of them. Rather cool ! What do you think I 
ought to do about it? Mr. D. and I might have 
secrets of vital importance, which Gr. might let out — 
very unpleasant ! 

Friday, Sept. 7. 

There was such a beautiful plate-chest to be raffled 
for at the c Europe shop ' here — everything that life 
could require — silver tea-pot, cream, sugar, forks, 
spooDS, bottle-stands, cruets, &c, and all so pretty. 
W. took two tickets, and I one, and there were only 
26 tickets in all — 51. each — so it is a great shame we 
have not won ; but it was thrown for yesterday, and 
Mr. C. has got it. I am glad, for he wanted it, and 
is quite delighted. 

There was a second prize, of a clock, which I could 
have put up with — but did not get it ; and a third, of a 
looking-glass, which nobody wanted, and which Dr. D. 
won, and now he does not know what to do with it. 
I advise him to bring it home some dark night, and 
throw it into the valley behind his house. It may 



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161 



amuse the monkeys, who live there in tribes, and can 
be of no other use. 

No looking-glass in India has much quicksilver, but 
this happens to have none at all, except a few slight 
streaks here and there. 

Saturday, Sept. 8. 

You cannot imagine how beautiful our weather is, 
since a storm on Wednesday, which cleared up the 
rains. Such nice clear air, and altogether it feels 
English and exhilarating ; and I think of you, and 
Eden Farm, and the Temple Walk, and Crouch Oak 
Lane, and the blue butterflies, and then the gravel-pit, 
and your reading e Corinne ' to me ; and then the later 
days of Eastcombe and our parties there, with G-. V. 
in his wonderful spirits, with all his wit, and all the 
charm about him; and all this because the air is 
English. I should like to go back to childhood and 
youth again — there was great enjoyment in them. 

Monday, Sept. 10. 

We had a large congregation yesterday, and an excel- 
lent sermon from Mr. Y., whose health, however, does 
not improve. I have made such a collection of draw- 
ings for the fancy sale — really very good. I am sorry 
to say it, for it may sound vain, perhaps is vain ; but I 
persist in thinking them good drawings, and I cannot 
help thinking you would buy some of them. 

Mrs. Chance, with her twins, came to visit Chance 
pere to-day. He was very polite to his wife, but 
could not endure the young puppies. I am not sur- 
prised, for they are nearly quite black, with a little 
white, but no tan, and with vulgar, greasy, smooth 

M 



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hair. However, they are only ten days old, and 
babies, as you know, alter rapidly. 

Thursday, Sept. 13. 

We had such a nice expedition yesterday afternoon ; 
just the sort of thing your children would have enjoyed 
(only you never let them come out with me now). 
It was to see two waterfalls, and in Simla, where 
water is bought at great expense, we make much of a 
few pailfulls that fall gratis over a rock. The valley 
is about 3,000 feet below our house, very Swiss, and 
quite different from the hills — such large cedars, and 
here and there a little Swiss-looking cottage, with one 
door and no window. I always wonder how ignorant 
of the ways of the world the inhabitants of these solitary 
valleys can be, and how such ignorance feels. No 
6 crafty boys,' no fashions, no politics, and, I suppose, 
a primitive religion that satisfies them. There are 
temples of great age in all these places. I imagine 
half these people must be a sort of vulgar Adams and 
Eves — not so refined, but nearly as innocent. 

F. and I were carried down, and rode part of the 
way up, and when there, we clambered about some 
wonderful places, and I have not laughed so much for 
ages. There was a cave to go to, and a smooth rock 
to descend. G. and Captain J. got me safely to the 
bottom of the rock, and there we stopped to see Major 
IT., Dr. D., and F. follow. They got half-way, cling- 
ing on, by a chain of the servants, to a tree at the top, 
and then they could get no further. The waterfall 
made such a noise, that we could not make them hear 
;hat there was nothing, in fact, to come for ; and their 



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163 



hesitations, and scramblings back again, very nearly 
killed me. Luckily there was nobody left below to 
laugh at my return. The jonpaunees made steps of 
themselves, and I ran up a flight of jonpaunee-stairs 
very decorously. We are all so stiff to-day, not 
having walked so much for three years. ( My bones, 
girl, my bones ! ' (see ( Romeo and Juliet.') I wonder 
whether old Mrs. Davenport has died since we left 
England. What an actress she was ! 

Monday, Sept. 17. 

There ! I skip three entire days, for my whole soul 
is in England, and this letter must go to-day. This 
morning there came a knock at the door at seven, and 
Rosina brought me your July letters, with E.'s en- 
closed. I had scarcely digested those, when the Cal- 
cutta dak came in, bringing to me your June despatch, 
which ought to have come with the other June letters 
exactly one fortnight ago — but never mind ! How 
pleasant it is to have them both ! The Coronation 
seems to have gone off wonderfully well, and must 
have been a beautiful sight. I suppose we shall have 
our English papers in two days : I am insatiable 
for more details. To be sure, if that little Queen's 
head were quite turned, and she became the most 
affected and consequential of beings, it would not be 
surprising. A young creature of nineteen to be the 
occasion of such a splendid ceremony, and to have 
brought together all the great people from all the great 
nations to do her honour, is enough to intoxicate her. 
She must have great good sense to be so entirely guilt- 
less of nonsense. 

M 2 



164 



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Letter to the Countess of B. 

Simla, Sept. 8 ; 1838. 

My dearest Sister. — There was no letter from you 
by the last overland (June). Odd ! Can you account 
for it ? Perhaps you did not write, which might be 
one reason (though a very insufficient one) why the 
letter did not come, but still it was a pity. 

I say no more, being held back by the circumstance 
that you will have been a whole month without a line 
from us. Our letters of June, July, and August, all 
leave Bombay this blessed day — Saturday, Sept. 8. 
Such an accumulation of twaddle ! We are not to 
blame ;. we have written — I wish everybody could say 
as much : but, however, as Falstaff says, when he had 
wrongfully accused Dame Quickly of picking his 
pocket, i Hostess, I forgive thee — go. Look to thy 
servants : cherish thy guests ; thou shalt find me tract- 
able to any honest reason. Thou seest I am pacified.' 

It is such a nice day to-day. The rains ended last 
Wednesday. After five days of an even down-pour, 
there came a storm of wind that might have changed 
the places of some of the little hills, if they had been 
addicted to hopping, and which devastated my little 
garden, which happens to be on the windy side of the 
house : but since that, we have not had a drop of rain. 
The snowy range has appeared again after a fog of 
three months. The hills are all blue and green and 
covered with flowers, and there is a sharp, clear air that 
is perfectly exhilarating. I have felt nothing like it, I 
mean nothing so English, since I was on the terrace at 
Eastcombe, except perhaps the week we were at the 



UP THE COUNTEY. 



165 



Cape. It is a shame of the storm to have twisted my 
one honeysuckle into a wisp of dead leaves ; to have 
laid low our only double dahlia, and to have broken off 
a branch of the lavender bush of Simla. All these 
treasures G. deposited in my little garden at the back 
of the house, and this is the result of his unguarded 
confidence. The dahlia was of that rhubarb and mag- 
nesia colour which makes you hear the spoon grit 
against the cup as you look at it. Still it was the only 
double dahlia in India ; but that will revive again. 
The honeysuckle is a mortifying business. Colonel Y. 
has another, and he used to come crowing and stutter- 
ing here about this f cu-cu-cu-curious plant ' of his which 
suddenly took a dwarfish turn and stopped growing ; 
whereas mine had reached the top of the house, and old 
Y. used to call once a week to look at it. Now, I don't 
mind the loss of Colonel Y.'s visits, but I did like to 
make him envious of my honeysuckle. We are all 
dreadfully within sight of travelling again, but there 
are still six weeks of repose, so that I am as deaf as a 
post when the word ( tent ' is mentioned. Still, the 
subject of provisions, and marches, and agents and 
magistrates, must be alluded to. 

Don't you think it would be worth my while to buy 
a pot of paint, out of my own allowance, from the 
Simla ( Europe shop,' and have the acorns and oak 
leaves painted out of the lining of my tent ? The lining 
is buff, with sprigs of oak leaves, and there is an occa- 
sional mistake in the pattern, which distracts me ; and 
there is such an association of dust and bore and 
bad health with those acorns, that I do not think I 
can encounter them again. We are to leave this on 



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November 5. I mention that openly, because if Guy 
Faux wishes to keep his ( day] it would, perhaps, be 
better and more humane to blowup people who are going 
into camp, than people who live in houses. 

Sept. 13. 

I must put this up to-night. This is the first time 
I have had an evening quite alone, in an English 
fashion, since we came to India — not even a stray aide- 
de-camp about. They are all gone to the last of the 
Simla theatricals. I had seen four out of the five plays, 
so I excused myself, as I am drawing all day for the 
fancy fair, and wanted to write to you and M. and C. 

to-night. I was in a horrid fright. was going to 

stay with me, but with great tact he walked off to his 
own house ; and so now, if there were but a carriage- 
road and a knocker, and a servant in red inexpressibles 
to announce you, I really should take it kindly if 
you would drive up, give a double knock, and be 
announced. 

As it is, I am very comfortable. I don't object ; but 
the window is open to the verandah, and I see the little 
green Ghoorkas (the most hideous little soldiers in the 
world) mounting guard, with all sorts of outlandish 
noises. The door is, of course, open to the passage — 
Indian doors can't shut — and my four hirkarus are 
sitting cross-legged, wrapped up in shawls, playing at a 
sort of draughts that they call i pucheese.' There is 
not a human being in the house who understands a 
word of English: the Europeans are all gone to the 
play, and the head servants go to their own homes after 
dinner. I have a great mind to call out ' fire ! ' and 
6 thieves ! ' as loud as I can, to see what will come of it 



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167 



— it will only break up the game of pucheese ; and the 
hirkarus will think I have gone mad, and respect me 
accordingly — they have a great regard for madness. I 
really think it awful ! I wish I could speak Hindu- 
stani — I am sure I must want something, only I cannot 
ask for it. I will tell them to seal this letter, and if 
they tear it up I shall have made a sad waste of my 
evening. 

Good-bye, dearest sister. Please always write by 
the overland post. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Simla, September 27, 1838. 
The last ten days have been devoted to finishing up 
my goods for the fancy fair, and I have not touched a 
pen. Yesterday the fair s came off,' as they say, and 
to-day I am so tired I can't do anything. Once more 
c my bones, girl, my bones.' There never was so suc- 
cessful a fete. More English than anything I have 
seen in this country. Giles and Wright went off at 
seven in the morning with my goods ; and at ten Mr. 
C. came to go down with me. Annandale is a beautiful 
valley, about two miles off, full of large pine trees. 
Colonel Y. had erected a long booth for the ladies who 
kept stalls, and there were mottoes and devices over 
each of them. e The Bower of Eden ' was in the 
centre. Before we came to the booth, there was a 
turnpike gate with a canvas cottage and an immense 
board, ( the Auckland toll bar,' and Captain P. dressed 



168 



UP THE COUNTKY. 



up as an old woman who kept the gate. On one side 
there was the Red Cow, kept by some of the uncove- 
nanted, who spoke excellent Irish, and whose jokes and 
brogue were really very good. There was a large tent 
opposite the booth for G., and in every part of the 
valley there were private tents sent by careful mothers 
for their ayahs and children. There were roundabouts 
for the natives. W. O. and three of the aides-de-camp 
kept a skittle-ground, with sticks to throw at, and a 
wheel of fortune, and a lucky bag, which had great 
success. Gr. and F. came soon after eleven, and the 
selling went off with great rapidity. The native ser- 
vants had had great consultations whether it would be 
respectful to buy at my stall, and there were only two 
or three who arrived at that pitch of assurance ; but 
they were all present, dressed in their finest shawls, and 
they all thought it very amusing. Half an hour nearly 
cleared off the stalls, and then Mr. C. began selling my 
drawings by auction, and made excellent fun of it, 
knowing the history of every native that I had sketched, 
and also of all the bidders, and he did it so like an 
auctioneer : ' I have kept this gem till now — I may call 
it a gem, the portrait of Gholam, the faithful Persian 
who accompanied Major L. from Persia, from Herat ! 
I may say this is a faithful likeness of a man who has 
witnessed the siege of Herat. Will that great diplo- 
matist, Major L., who .is, I know, anxious to possess 
this perfect picture, allow me to say eighty rupees, or 
seventy, or sixty ? ' 6 This next picture is the Rajah 
of Nahun and his sons, and I think it quite unequalled 
for brilliancy of colouring. I shall have nothing equal 
to this lot to offer this morning. I bid thirty rupees 



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169 



for it myself — the surpeche in the rajah's turban is 
worth the money.' And so he went on, and, I hope, 
his is the sin of running up the price of the drawings, 
for I really was quite sorry to see the prices they went 
at. One group of heads, which only took me three 
days to do, sold for ninety-five rupees (£9 10s.), and my 
twenty drawings fetched 800 rupees. Considering that 
the whole proceeds of the sale is 3,400 rupees, that is a 
large proportion. My stall altogether produced nearly 
1,400 rupees. W. and his allies got 160. The A.s 
and B.s kept an eating stall, but did not make much 
by it. As soon as the auction was over, we all went 
to luncheon with them; then the Ghoorkas shot for 
some beautiful prizes G. gave them, and he gave the 
sword for the single-stick fighters. Then we all went 
to W.'s games. Captain D. was dressed up like an old 
woman, and Captain P. exactly like a thimble-rigger 
at Greenwich, and they kept everybody, even Sir G. 
R., in roars of laughter. It was very amusing to see 
the grave pompous people, like R., taking three throws 
for a rupee, and quite delighted if they knocked off a 
tin snuff-box or a patent stay-lace. Then we had pony 
races, which ended in Colonel F. riding his old pony 
against a fat Captain D., and coming in conqueror with 
universal applause. And then, the sports having lasted 
from eleven to five, and everybody amused and in 
good humour, we all came home. It is lucky it was so 
very shady, for, as it is, hardly any of us can see to-day, 
from being unused to daylight. The best fancy sales 
in Calcutta never produced more than 2,000 rupees, so 
this is quite wonderful, considering that the whole of 
our European society is only 150 people, and many of 



170 



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them have not a great deal to spend. F. did not keep 
a stall, and I was rather afraid of it at first, for the 
natives are slow about that sort of novelty ; but as soon 
as they fairly understood it was for charity, which is 
the only active virtue they are up to, they thought it 
all quite right. 

We had a melancholy death last Sunday — a poor 
Mrs. Or. She lived at Stirling Castle, just above our 
house, so there never was a day in which we did not 
meet her, with her two little boys carried after her, 
either going to fetch Captain Gr. from his office, or 
coming back with him. We met her on Friday 
evening, and stopped to tell her that Lord G. had 
written to enquire after her. On Saturday evening 
she was not at all well, and on Sunday morning 
Doctor W. sent for Doctor D. to consult with him. 
Doctor D. saw directly that she was in the blue stage 
of cholera, and before we came out from church she 
was dead ; she was within a month of her confinement, 
but the child died too. The poor husband was in such 
a dreadful state, and so was the eldest boy, who is 
about four years old. W. says he never heard any- 
thing so shocking as the poor boy's screams. It was 
necessary to bury her early on Monday morning, and 
as it is the custom for all acquaintances to attend a 
funeral, W. went up to Stirling Castle with Colonel 
B. None but the most degraded natives will touch an 
European corpse, so the doctors put her into the 
coffin, and Colonel B. screwed it down, and they were 
obliged to borrow the boys of our band to carry her to 
the grave. Poor Captain Gr. was not able to go him- 
self, but the little boy had crept out of bed and was 



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171 



clinging to his father, and trying to comfort him. We 
were to have had a party here in the evening, but put 
it off ; for in such a small society of Christians, every 
possible respect is to be paid to the feelings of any of 
them. 

"Wednesday, October 3. 

We had our party, which had been put off on 
Monday, and it went off very well. It is the last 
meeting of Simla, so everybody came. A great many 
go down to the plains this week. Poor things ! it is 
about as rational as if a slice of bread were to get off 
the plate and put itself on the toasting-fork. We have 
a month more of this place, but there are horrible signs 
of preparation, camel trunks and stores going off. I 
very often think I could have a fit of hysterics when I 
think we are to have Jive whole months this year of 
those deplorable tents, in all that dust and heat. This 
day three years we embarked from Portsmouth, so we 
have only got two years and five months more of India. 
That is really very satisfactory. I begin to think 
of what I shall say when I see you again. It really 
will be too great happiness ; I never can think of it 
coolly or rationally. It gets into a medley, and I 
begin to breathe shortly, and to have red ears and pains 
in my elbows, and then I think it is presumptuous to 
look on so far ; but still it is not so very, very far. 

Saturday, Oct. 6. 

It was a shocking sight last night, to find the road 
littered with camel trunks, and beds, and flocks of 
goats, and dishes and stoves — all the camp preparations 
of the A.s. They are the first family who have gone 



172 



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down to the plains,, much, I should think, to the detri- 
ment of the two babies ; for they say the heat still is 
dreadful, and they go into it from this nice climate, 
which is almost frosty now. But those camp prepara- 
tions, I am happy to say, made everybody ill. Even 
Mrs. E., who is going to stay up here, said she went 
home quite affected by the recollection of the trouble 
of last year. I really think I can't go. 

TTe had such an evening of misfortunes on Thurs- 
day. "We were all playing at loo, the doors open, 
house door and all, as is usual in India, when the most 
unearthly yell was set up, apparently in the passage, 
and this was repeated three or four times, and then all 
the servants seemed to be screaming. f A leopard 
carrying off Chance ! ' was the first thing everybody 
said, and all the gentlemen ran out, when it proved to 
be one of Dr. D.'s jonpaunees, who was lying asleep 
at the door, and had had a violent nightmare ; and 
though three others laid hold of him, he rolled himself 
off the verandah into the valley below. However, he 
was not the least hurt. But that set all our nerves on 
edge. Then, when we went to bed, I heard violent 
hysterics going on in the maids' room, and that turned 
out to be Myra, F.'s ayah, whose husband lives with 
W. O. They are never a very happy couple, and all 
of a sudden he took up a stick and beat her dreadfully, 
and she had run off from his house, leaving her baby 
on the floor. We sent and redeemed the baby, but it 
was a long time before Myra could be pacified, and 
sent off to sleep at Rosina's house. W. turned off 
Lewis the next morning, who immediately went and 
made it up with his wife, who came this morning and 



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173 



said she must go too. My poor old Rosina continues 
to be very ill, coughing and spitting blood, which is 
very often the case with the Bengalees here. I am 
going to send her down to Sabathoo on Tuesday, with 
Mrs. A. Sabathoo is a very hot place, and may very 
likely cure Rosina ; but she does nothing but cry now, 
poor old thing, at the idea of going, and insists upon 
dying here, but I think she will get well in a warm 
place. One man whom we sent down to the plains, 
apparently in the last stage of decline, has got safe to 
Calcutta, and is quite well again. I suppose this is a 
very bad Siberia to them. 

There has been great excitement and happiness in 
our household. Captain J. wanted to do something 
kind by the servants on his giving up the charge of 
them, and wished to have the wages of a few of his 
favourites raised. I thought that would raise a host 
of malcontents and petitioners, and suggested that a 
reward for length of service (as the Company will no 
longer pension off old servants) would be a popular 
and useful measure, and he took to it kindly, and by 
leaving two or three places vacant, we shall not entail 
any additional expense on our successor. There were 
several who had been at Government House more than 
thirty-five years, fifteen who had been between twenty 
and thirty years, and more than twenty who had served 
fifteen years. We made three classes of them, and 
gave them two rupees, and one rupee, and half a rupee 
per month additional pay, which measure has diffused 
universal satisfaction, only it occasions constant refe- 
rences to the house-book, for natives never know any- 
thing about time; so some of them, who had been 



174 



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there about five years, declare it must be nearly 
fifteen. Had you a good eclipse of tbe moon last 
night ? I never saw a really handsome one before ; 
but I dare say yours is quite another moon, and 
another earth altogether. 

Tuesday, Oct. 9. 

Poor Rosina set off to-day ; she seemed very low, 
but the air now is so keen here that she naturally felt 
worse. She fancies she is only going to stay a week, 
but Dr. D. says she must stay there till we pick her 
up on our way to the plains. 

TVe have begun doing a little bit of packing, that is, 
I have made a grand survey of my wardrobe, and 
found that I had fourteen gowns to bestow on TVright, 
besides three of which she is to give me the loan, till 
we leave this place. Then I start clear for the march, 
six superb morning gowns and six evening ditto, some 
the remains of M.'s last supply, and some G.'s French 
gowns. I calculate they will enable me to make a 
very creditable appearance till I meet your treasure of 
a box at Agra. Nothing can be more judgematically 
planned. 

Friday, Oct. 12. 

They say this must go to-day, which I believe is a 
mistake. However, it is better to run no risks. I 
have been writing to R. to send out s Nicholas 
Xickleby ' overland. Does not that book drive you 
demented ? and I am sure it is all true. I remember 
years ago a trial about one of those Yorkshire schools, 
where all the boys had the ophthalmia, and one boy 
had his bones through his skin, and none of the boys 
were allowed a towel ; and these atrocities put us all 



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175 



into one of those frenzies in which we used to indulge 
in youth. I dare say Dickens was at that school. I 
wish 'he would not take to writing horrors, he realises 
them so painfully. 

I am so busy to-day, I have hardly time to write. 
G. wants to give Runjeet a picture of our Queen in 
her coronation robes. The Sikhs are not likely to 
know if it is an exact likeness as far as face goes, and 
the dress I have made out quite correctly, from 
descriptions in the papers and from prints, and it really 
is a very pretty picture. It is to be sent to Delhi to- 
morrow, and it is to have a frame of gold set with 
turquoises, with the orders of the Garter and the Bath 
enamelled. In short, it will be 6 puffect, entirely puf- 
fect;' but I think they ought to give me Runjeet's 
return present, as it has cost me much trouble to invent 
a whole Queen, robes and all. We are all quite well. 
God bless you ! My next letter will be from camp. 
6 Mercy on us,' as S. would say, but it is a comfort to 
think we shall end here again. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Saturday, Oct. 20, 1838. 

I think it looks ill, that I have let a whole week go 
by without a touch of Journal ; but nothing particular 
has happened, and it does not mean any coldness, you 
know, dearest. I have spent a week more of the time 
I am to be away from you, so I could not be better 
employed. 



176 



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Monday we gave a dinner, Tuesday we dined at the 

R.s. Met Mrs. and a newly-married couple, 

the husband being an object of much commiseration. 
Not but what he is very happy, probably, but he 
married the very first young lady that came up to the 
hills this season ; she was e uncommon ordinary ' then, 
and nothing can look worse, somehow, than she does 
now. I dare say she is full of merit, but I merely 
wish to observe, for the benefit of any of your sons 
who may come out to India, that when they have been 
two or three years in a solitary station they should not 
propose to the very first girl they see. However, I 
dare say the s are very happy, as I said before. 

We had such an excellent play last night, or rather 
two farces, acted chiefly by Captains X. and M., and 
Mr. C, and by Captain Y., one of Sir Gr.'s aides-de- 
camp. Captain X. is really quite as good as Liston, 
and I think he ought to run over a scene or two every 
evening for our diversion. It is supposed that E,. was 
never seen to laugh till he cried before, which he cer- 
tainlv did last night. It is astonishing how refreshing 
a real, good laugh is. I have not had so good a one 
for ages. 

Tuesday, Oct. 23. 

The work of packing progresses, and there are no 
bounds to the ardour with which everybody labours to 
make us uncomfortable. This day fortnight we are to 
be in our wretched tents — that is, if we really do not 
find ourselves unequal to the shock at last. There 
was an idea that coolies enough could not be raised at 
last, as everybody goes away at the same time, so 
instead of 3,000 at once, we have 1,000 three times 



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177 



over, and as soon as they have taken one set of camel 
trunks to the plains they come back for another, so we 
spread our discomfort thus over a wide surface. I 
have succumbed to such a temptation to-day — I wish I 
had not, and yet I am glad I did — a large gold chain, 
two yards long, of the purest Indian gold. I could 
not let it escape me, and yet I know I should like to 
have the money to spend at Lahore. 

Wednesday, Oct. 24. 

To-day was a day of mysteries for Simla. R. came 
to breakfast with us, and did half an hour's business 
with G., and that put his family into a fever. News 
had arrived yesterday that the Persians had abandoned 

the siege of Herat, and so the s fancied that the 

Cabul business would be now so easy, that E,. would not 
go in person. 

Gr. and I were walking in the evening and met the 

s, who said they had never passed such a day 

of curiosity, evidently thinking, poor new-married 
dears, that they were not going to part for ten years. 

Mrs. said to G. : c Now, for once, Lord A., 

tell us a secret ; what did R. go to you about ? ' i Why, 
he came,' G. said, f to ask where we bought our 
potatoes, they are so remarkably good.' The other 
mystery was, that Captain Y. said he had been eight 
hours trying to prevent two gentlemen from fighting, 
and we cannot think of any fightable people at Simla. 
You never saw so lovely an ornament as a great 
Lucknow merchant brought yesterday. A bunch of 
grapes made up of twenty-seven emeralds, the smallest 
emerald the size of a marble, and all of such a beautiful 

N 



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colour ; there are large pearls between each, and it 
is mounted on a plain green enamel stalk. It looks 
like the fruit in Aladdin's g-arden. We want G. to 
buy it for his parting present to Runjeet Singh. They 
were to have exchanged rings, and a ring, one single 
diamond without a flaw, valued at 1,600£., was to have 
come up from Calcutta this week, but it has been 
stolen from the dak. It was insured, but still it was 
a pity such a good diamond should be lost. 

Friday, Oet. 26. 

We rode to Mr. B.'s yesterday, knowing that other- 
wise that bunch of grapes would be slurred over, and 
not even mentioned to us. I began by saying, we 
thought it beautiful, and just the present for a great 
potentate, upon which B. said: * Yes, it is almost too 
expensive, but I was thinking of asking his lordship to 
let me present it to Shah Soojah.' Luckily, that was 
too much even for (jr., 'and he said : ' No, if I allow it 
to be bought at all, it could only be for a Governor- 
General to give away ; besides, we are going to give 
Shah Soojah a kingdom, which is quite enough without 
any presents.' 

£ A defeat,' I thought, and Mr. B. looked as if 
emerald grapes were remarkably sour, and on our 
ride home G. said he meant to take them for Eunjeet 
Singh. 

Tuesday, Oct. 30. 

G. took a fancy on Saturday to go, after dinner, to 
play at whist with Sir G. K., so we all jonpauned off, 
and very cold it is at night in those conveyances. The 
cold brought a bilious attack I had been brewing, to a 



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crisis, and I had one of the worst headaches I ever 
had in my life, on Sunday, and could not sit up for a 
moment. It is the first day's ailment I have had 
since the week we came to Simla, and very lucky 
that it came before we go into camp. This day week 
we start. ( No ind to my sufferens ! ' as some novel 
says. 

Thursday, Nov. L 

There ! now I am quite well again, and in travelling 
condition ; and perhaps, setting oif in such good health, 
marching may not be so fatiguing as it was last year. 
We have had nothing but take-leave visits the last 
three days. Mrs. R. sets off to-morrow with her own 
children and those two little orphaned Gr.s, whom she 
is taking to England. The wives to be left here are 
becoming disconsolate and fractious. 

Dear J. left us for good this morning. I do not 
think he cared much for us ; but all the old servants, 
of whom he has had the care for eleven years, went 
with all their eastern, devoted-looking ways, and took 
leave of him and quite overset his nerves, and he went 
off in a shocking state. After taking leave of F. he 
quite broke down in Gr.'s room, and could not come to 
mine ; and my jemadar came in with large tears run- 
ning down : c Major Sahib so unhappy. He say he 
not able to speak to ladyship — he cry very much ! ' I 
asked if they were all sorry he was going. f Yes, very. 
He very old gentleman at Government House, and know 
everything, and very just.' And then, to wind it up 
with a fine piece of language, 'he adapt properly well 
to all lordship's poor servants.' What that means I 
have not a guess, but I think it sounds comfortable ; 

K 2 



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and I see now that the fault of India is that nobody 
e adapts properly well ' to my English feelings. 

Sunday, Nor. 4. 

After service to-day, the dining-room was given up 
to Giles and the Philistines, the carpets taken up, and 
a long country dance formed of the camel trunks and 
linen-presses that we leave behind ; and now we dine 
and live in the drawing-room, which, without its cur- 
tains and draperies, and with its crude folding-doors, 
looks like half a ball-room at a Canterbury inn. 
Poor dear house ! I am sorry to see it despoiled. We 
have had seven as good months here as it is possible to 
pass in India — no trouble, no heat ; and if the Hima- 
layas were only a continuation of Primrose Hill or 
Penge Common, I should have no objection to pass the 
rest of my life on them. Perhaps you would drive up 
to Simla on Saturday and stay till Monday. 

Monday. Nov. 5. 

I had much better not write to-day, only I have 
nothing else to do ; but the September overland post 
is come (the August is missing), and I always have a 
regular fit of low spirits that lasts twenty-four hours 
after that. This is your Newsalls letter, and dear T.'s 
account of the archery and country balls, and the 
neighbours ; and it all sounds so natural and easy, and 
I feel so unnatural and so far off. Just as you say, we 
have been here very little more than half our time, and 
I am sure it feels and is almost a life. 

It will be nearly six years altogether that we shall 
have been away, if we ever go home again ; and that is 



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181 



an immense gap, and coming at a wrong time of life. 
Ten or fifteen years ago it would have made less dif- 
ference ; your children would still have been children ; 
but now I miss all their youth, and ours will be utterly 
over. We shall meet again — 

When youth and genial years have flown, 
And all the life of life is gone. 

I feel so very old, not merely in look, for that is not 
surprising at my age, and in this country, where every- 
body looks more than fifty ; but just what Lady C. 
describes in her letter — the time for putting up with 
discomforts has gone by. I believe what adds to my 
English letter lowness, is the circumstance that carpets, 
curtains, books, everything is gone from my room, and 
I am sitting in the middle of it, on a straw beehive 
chair, which the natives always use when they do admit 
a chair, with Chance's own little chair for my feet, and 
the inkstand on the ledge of the window. I wish I 
was at Newsalls. There ! now they want my ink- 
stand. 

Syree, Tuesday, Nov. 6. 

The beginning of a second march, and so I had 
better put this up and send it. We left poor Simla at 
six this morning, and if I am to be in India I had 
rather be there than anywhere. We have had seven 
very quiet months, with good health and in a good 
climate, and in beautiful scenery. That is much as 
times go. As for this march, I cannot say what I feel 
about it. It began just as it left off. 

We arrived to breakfast here, and the coolies have 
been fractious, and so, when I took off my habit, I 



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bad no gown to put on ; the right box is not come, 
and I have no bonnet to put on for the afternoon's 
march. 

We are in the dak bungalow, two whitewashed 
empty rooms, with streaks of damp and dirt all over 
them. We have been breakfasting in one, and all the 
deserting husbands have joined us. To be sure, St. 
Cloup is a jewel of a cook for this sort of thing. He 
came here in the night and prepared the breakfast we 
have had, and the luncheon we are going to have. He 
is now gone on to Sabathoo, where we shall find 
dinner, and he meant to go on again at night to the 
tents, half-way between Sabathoo and the camp, to 
arrange to-morrow's breakfast and luncheon. God 
bless you, dearest M. ! 

There is a ship lost — 6 The Protector ' — just in the 
mouth of the river. It was bringing troops and several 
passengers, but none whose names we know. There 
is only one soldier saved out of the whole crew. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Buddee, Friday, Nov. 9, 1838. 
I sent you my last Journal the day before yesterday, 
having brought our history down to the beginning of 
our second year's march. 

The tents look worse than ever, inasmuch as they 
are a year older, and the new white patches look very 
discrepant; but one week, I suppose, will make them 
all a general dirty broicn. The camp looks melancholy 



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183 



without any ladies or children ; I miss Mrs. A. parti- 
cularly. Our dear friend Mr. C, of Umballa, who 
magistrated us last year, joined us again at the foot of 
the hills, and had the bright idea to station his gig at 
the first passable bit of the road, which, as I was 
shaken into small atoms by eight hours of the jonpaun, 
was a great relief. Moreover, after seven months of 
the hills, a wheeled carriage was rather a pretty sight, 
and I began to think of the rapid advance of science, 
and the curious inventions of modern times. 

We are obliged to stay here, to give time for the 
things to come up. The old khansamah wanted ano- 
ther day for his arrangements, and it is impossible to 
refuse him anything, for he never makes a difficulty, 
and very seldom owns to one. 

When we stopped half-way between Sabathoo and 
this place it was a double march, and there was not a 
thing come up, not even a chair ; and then the dear 
old khansamah, with his long white beard, went fussing 
about, in and out of the tents and the trees, and there 
were fires burning amongst the grass, and tea made in 
a minute ; and then he came with half-a-dozen fresh 
eggs, which he must have laid himself, and a dish of 
rice, and in ten minutes we had an excellent breakfast. 
I met my new horse on the plain : such a beautiful 
animal, like an Arabian in a picture book, with an 
arched neck and an arched tail, and he throws out his 
legs as if he were going to pick up a pin at a great 
distance. W. was riding it in a prancing sort of 
manner, that made me think it was the high-spirited 
animal its former owner described, and to which its 
present owner would particularly object; but I am 



184 



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happy to say that is a mistake. I rode it one day 
alone with Captain X., and to-day with G., whose 
horse was enough to drive any other mad, and my 
beauty did not care a straw. 

e I am glad, Miss Eden/ Webb said, c you did not 
take fright at first sight, because the horse would have 
found you out directly; and he is about the best 
horse in our stable, which is saying a good deal. I 
rede him all the way from Kurnaul, and I think it 
was as much like sitting in a good easy-chair as any- 
thing ever I felt.' I think if the horse had a view of 
Webb in his travelling costume, he would not consent 
to be an easy-chair under him : a flannel jacket, with 
leathers, and leather gaiters, and an immense hat 
made of white feathers and lined with green, supposed 
to keep out the sun ; and now he has set up a long- 
beard, and he rides by the side of the carriage, either 
common fashion or sideways, if he is exercising one of 
our horses. G. says he wonders how the Sikhs will 
describe him in their journals. We have at last 
arrived at the possession of Mr. D.'s bonnets, which 
were packed up exactly a year ago, and have come 
out as fresh as if the milliner's girl had just stepped 
over with them, from the shop at the corner, the 
blonde inside looking quite blue and fresh, and the 
gauze ribbon just unrolled. It is very odd, and I am 
of opinion it would be clever, even now, to have 
ourselves put up in tin and soldered, till it is time to 
go home. We should alter no more. The bonnets 
are particularly pretty. I mean to appear in mine at 
Ferozepore, to give Runjeet some slight idea of what's 
what in the matter of bonnets. 



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185 



Mattae, Monday, Nov. 12. 

We made our first march on Saturday to Xallyghur: 
roads bad, horse an angel. The carriage could not be 
used. Gr. drove me the last half in Mr. C.'s gig, and 
Mr. C. drove F. We went on the elephants to see 
Nallyghur on Sunday afternoon, It is a pretty place, 
and the old rajah has a very nice little palace on the 
top of a hill, looking into his village, and he is a nice 
gentleman-like old man, very fair, with lightish hair, 
which is, I believe, a disease almost amounting to 
leprosy, but it did not look bad — quite the contrary, 
rather distingue and European. All the Sikh chiefs 
under Mr. C.'s care look comfortable ; he makes them 
keep their roads and palaces in good order. Mrs. C. 
had a melancholy accident the other day. She was 
out riding with her children; one of her bearers 
touched her mule, which kicked and threw her over its 
head. She broke one arm in two places, and dislocated 
the other wrist. Mr. C. was away, and there was no 
doctor nearer than Sabathoo ; she remained four days 
with these broken arms before Dr. L. could be fetched 
from Sabathoo, but her arms are set, and she is re- 
covering very well. That want of a doctor must very 
often be a sore distress in India. A Mrs. R. at Simla, 

whose husband was sent as Resident to , where 

she is to join him, came in tears to see us last week, 
saying she had two sickly children and there was not 
a doctor within one hundred miles, and she wished I 
would mention it to G. I thought what a state you 
would have been in, and how you would forthwith 
have removed your Major R. from his residency. The 
doctors are all wanted for the army, so I did not think 



186 



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she had much chance, but G. happily had one spare 
one at his disposal, and the poor little woman was ver y 
grateful. 

We had a great storm of rain last night at Xallyghur, 
and brought it on here with us ; and I suppose there 
never were such a set of miserable animals seen, slosh- 
ing about what may be called our private apartments 
in overshoes, and with a parasol stuck up in particu- 
larly thin places — the servants all shivering and 
huddled together, palanquins wanted to take us to 
breakfast and dinner — in short, a mess. 

Koopur, Tuesday, Nov. 13. 

This is the memorable place where Lord William 
and Runjeet had their meeting, 6 where those sons of 
glory, those two lights of men, met in the vale of 
Roopur. You lost the view of earthly glory. Men 
might say, till then true pomp was single, but now 
was married to itself,' &c. What is that quoted from ? 
You don't know — you know nothing. But as touching 
this scene of glory, it is a large plain — in short, a slice 
of India — with a ruinous fort on one side and a lono- 
narrow bazaar of mud huts on another, the Sutlej 
running peacefully along about a mile from our en- 
campment. We have the same tents Lord W. had, 
at least facsimiles of them ; therefore we are quite up 
to the splendid meeting. Perhaps our tents are a 
shade handsomer, being a very deep chocolate colour 
owing to the rain of yesterday. They were of course 
let down into the mud, and have acquired that rich 
brown hue. Moreover, it occurred to me that my 
feet were very cold to-day, and at last I discovered 



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187 



that the wet oozed out of the setringees (an Indian 
excuse for a floorcloth) at every step, and I had them 
taken up, and the tent is littered profusely and hand- 
somely with clean straw, giving the whole the air and 
odour of a rickety hackney coach. G. observes every- 
day, as he did last year, 6 Well ! I wish Sir Charles 
Metcalfe could see us, and explain why this is a luxu- 
rious method of travelling.' The sufferings of the 
cattle, as usual, make the morning's march hateful. 
We have lost seven camels and two bullocks in seven 
days, and generally come in for a view of their dying 
agonies. 

"Wednesday, Nov. 14. 

I cannot put any names to these places, but we are 
three marches from Loodheeana. I had such a pretty 
present this morning, at least rather pretty. It is a 
baby elephant, nine months old, caught at Saharunpore 
by the jemadar of the mahouts, and he has been edu- 
cating it for me, and offered it by means of Captain D., 
his master. W. and I have been looking about for 
some time for a gigantic goat for Chance to ride on 
great occasions, but a youthful elephant is much more 
correct, and is the sort of thing Runjeet's dogs will 
expect. It just comes up to my elbow, seems to have 
Chance's own little bad temper and his love of eating, 
and is altogether rather like him. I had no idea such 
little elephants were valuable, but it appears that they 
are, as the baboo told me, 6 Quite a fancy article ; great 
rajahs like them for little rajahs to ride on.' The 
mahout would not take any money, so I had it valued 
and it is worth about forty pounds, and I got Mr. C. 
to present him with a pair of shawls and a pair of 



188 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



bracelets to that amount, accompanied by a neat 
Persian speech, which C. thought was worth about an 
equal sum. The blue shawls would have suited my 
own complaint exactly. The investiture took place in 
my tent, and the excellent mahout was much affected, 
Mr. C. says by his speech, / think by the blueness of 
the shawls, and the man probably regretted his little 
elephant. 

There has been an exchange of thirty elephants with 
various chiefs, in the course of the last ten days. 
Chance never means to part with his, and as Captain 
D. observed in his slowest tones, ' In about forty 
years, that will be a very handsome elephant.' Very 
interesting, because it would naturally be very vexa- 
tious to me if forty years hence it were to turn out a 
great gawky beast. Jimmund came with Chance 
under his arm to make a salaam, and when I asked 
what was the matter, he said he came to say he was 
very glad that his Chance had got a Hotty. You are 
of course aware that we habitually call elephants 
Hotties, a name that might be safely applied to every 
other animal in India, but I suppose the elephants 
had the first choice of names and took the most 
appropriate. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Thursday, Nor. 15, 1838. 

The August mail came in to-day ; a week after the 
September packet. Your dear, good letter has come 



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189 



both these last times without making its usual Calcutta 
detour, which is very clever of it. Certainly Newsalls 
is a very nice place ; mind you don't let it slip through 
your fingers till I come trotting up to the door on my 
elephant forty years hence. 

Friday, Loodheeana. 
The cavalry and the artillery and the second regi- 
ment of infantry that is to make up the escort met 
us this morning, and the salute was fired by the 
howitzers that Gr. has had made to present to Runjeet. 
They are very handsome, ornamented more than our 
soldiers think becoming, but just what Runjeet would 
like ; there is the bright star of the Punjab, with 
Runjeet's profile on the gun ; and Captain E. says that 
thousands of Sikhs have been to look at these guns, 
and all of them salaam to Runjeet's picture as if it 
were himself. 

Sunday, Nov. 18. 

They have been building a small church at this 
station, and though it is not finished, they were very 
anxious Mr. Y. should try it, as it is uncertain when 
another clergyman may pass through Loodheeana ; so 
all our chairs and footstools were sent down to be made 
into pews, and Mr. Y. preached a very good sermon. 
There are three American missionaries here, but they 
have not made any conversions. 

is gone to hunt up Runjeet, who always 

gives himself the airs of being missing when he is to 
have a meeting with any great potentate, and goes off 
on a hunting expedition. He is generally caught in 
time, but it is a matter of etiquette that neither party 
should appear to wait for the other, so if Runjeet goes 



190 



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out hunting, G. must stop to shoot or fish. It Trill not 
detain us long if we stop to eat all he can kill here. 

Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 19 and 20. 

We have marched ten miles each day without having 
seen tree or building, I believe. Chance's elephant 
comes every afternoon to show himself, and his edu- 
cation is progressing rapidly, under the care of a 
splendid individual in a yellow satin dress, who has 
received the very responsible situation of his mahout 
He has already learnt to kneel down, and the excellent 
joke of filling his little leech of a trunk with water 
and squirting it at anybody who affronts him. 

Chance and he are frightfully alike in disposition — 
greedy and self-willed ; and, barring the nose, very 
like in look. 

Wednesday, Nov. 21. 

The camp was very noisy the first two nights, and 
X. went round to the various commanding officers and 
made fresh arrangements with the sentries, who I fancy 
must have cut off the heads of any man, camel, or 
elephant, who presumed to speak or howl, for there 
has not been a sound since. i Gentlemen who couodi 
are only to be slightly wounded,' as the ' Rejected 
Addresses ' say. It really is tempting, for the tent- 
pitchers with all their wives and all their children have 
set up their marching coughs, and as they sleep round 
their pitchees, there is a continual sound of expectoration 
going on. Rosina was robbed by her hackery driver. 
X. had the man up before D., and the money is re- 
stored. 



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191 



I had a little domestic complaint to send to him last 
night. 

I always think these domestic stories may amuse you 
in England, from their contrast to the habits of that 
excellent country, from which I have been inveigled. 
There is a servant called the sirdar-bearer, or head of 
all the palanquin and tonjaun-bearers, whose business it 
is to walk by the side of the palanquin and see that 
the bearers carry it rightly. 

This has been rather a sinecure with us, but the man 
has always been a good little servant and has attached 
himself to me, and is supposed to be always at the door 
of my tent with an umbrella ; he keeps the tonjaun in 
readiness, and in Calcutta he always slept at my door, 
and was in the way for everything that was wanted. 
In short, i Loton ' was a general favourite, and sup- 
posed to be remarkably active. To my surprise, he 
came in yesterday to say that he could not possibly go 
with my palanquin every morning ; the roads were so 
bad, he found it tired him. In short, he evidently 
wanted a place on an elephant, which the servants who 
wait at table have ; but bearers are a class who can 
walk thirty miles a day ; and it was very much like 
your coachman asking to travel in the carriage, as it 
was too much trouble to drive. I said he had better 
go to Captain X. when he was in difficulties, and that 
I did not doubt Captain X. would find one of the other 
bearers who would be happy to take the placeof sirdar, 
and that Loton would then only have to carry the 
palanquin half-way. (At present he carries nothing. ) 
I told Captain X. this morning, and I thought he would 
have had a fit. He is not yet accustomed to the notion 



192 



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of the number of people who are merely kept for show 
and even for work; there is a double set for every- 
thing. F. and I have each thirty-two bearers, where 
other people have eight, that there may never be a 
difficulty ; and the idea that I was to direct my own 
bearers on the road struck X. as remarkablv amusing. 

I should think it would have been, as I have not a 
single Hindustani word to say to them. I left it to 
him to settle, and poor Loton is degraded to the ranks. 
He cares very much about the gold-laced livery, and 
still more about the two rupees a month which he loses. 
A bearer lives on that, and sends all the rest home. 
They all come from the neighbourhood of Patna, never 
bring their wives, but live together like a large family ; 
in fact, sell themselves for so many years, and then, 
when they have earned enough to buy a bit of land, 
go home for life. I hope Captain X. means to allow 
himself to be entreated like Major J., for I shall die of 
it if Loton is not restored in time. He was a great 
favourite of Lord W.'s, and I rather think I spoilt him 
by raising his wages partly on that account. Captain 
X. has the real Indian feeling that a servant objecting 
to an order is a so*rt of depravity that cannot be put 
up with — in short, that cannot be believed. I said 
that, as it was a first offence, he should be as lenient as 
he could, and he said, ( Certainly, it would be very 
lenient only to turn the man away. I assure you, 
Miss Eden, a native would have put the man to death 
who had refused to run by the side of his palanquin ! ? 
I think I see myself cutting off Loton's head with a 
pair of scissors. It is very awful to think of the 
number of petty rajahs in the country who have the 



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193 



power of life and death over their followers. It must 
be very often abused. 

Saturday, November 24. 

We have had three short marches. I am not much 
better. Except for the march, I keep as quiet as pos- 
sible, and have not been over to any meal, or out of 
my own tent, except to sit in an arm-chair in front of 
it between five and six. I always think the weather 
very trying in the plains. In the morning the ther- 
mometer was at 45°, and we were all shivering with 
shawls and cloaks on, and at twelve the glass rose to 
83°, and we are now sitting under punkahs with a small 
allowance of clothes. That happens every day, and I 
cannot think it wholesome. There was an interesting 
arrival from Delhi this morning, my bracelet with G.'s 
picture, which I had sent back to have a cover fitted to 
the picture, and it has come back so beautifully mended 
— with a turquoise cross on an enamelled lid. Then 
Mr. B., who superintended my private bracelet, under- 
took on the public account a frame for my picture of 
the Queen, which is to be given to Eunjeet, and the 
frame came with the bracelet. They had not time for 
the beautiful design of all the orders of the Garter and 
Bath, &c, which I wanted, and so only made the frame 
as massive as they could. It is solid gold, very well 
worked, with a sort of shell at each corner, encrusted 
with precious stones, and one very fine diamond in each 
shell. 

The materials come to about £500. Forty jewellers 
worked at it night and day, and the head jeweller 
expects a khelwut, or robe of honour, with a pair of 
shawls, for his activity. It will be a very handsome 

o 



iS4 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



item in the list of j^resents, and is to be given in great 
form. 

One of Runjeet's chief sirdars came into camp to-day, 
and there was a very fine durbar, as he was to be 
received as an ambassador. He is a great astronomer, 
and there was luckily at the Tosha Khanna an orrery 
and some astronomical instruments which Gr. added to 
his presents, and the man went away, they say, quite 
delighted. Every evening there is to be an arrival of 
one hundred jars of sweetmeats, which is a great delight 
to the native servants. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Camp, Ferozepore, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 1838. 

I put up a large packet to you on Saturday, which 
will accompany this ; but I was shy of making it thicker. 
Sunday, the whole camp was glad of a halt ; the sandy 
roads tire all the people much. 

There was a very large congregation at church, I was 
told; we have so many troops with us now, and Y.'s 
preaching is in great reputation. On Monday we 
marched eleven more miles with the same dusty result. 
The chief incident was, that G. was to have tried an 
Arabian of W. O.'s, which is a perfect lamb in a crowd, 
and was intended to officiate at the great review f as is 
to be but the syce by mistake gave him another horse 
of W.'s, which pulls worse than G.'s own horse. F., 
who was riding with him, assured him that the Arabian 
had such a tender mouth that it was only chafing be- 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



195 



cause lie held it too tight : he loosened the bridle — 
away went the horse like a shot, and away went twenty- 
five of the body-guard after him, thinking it was his 
lordship's pleasure to go at that helter-skelter pace : 
away went M.,who is on duty; in short, nothing could 
be finer than the idea ; but they all pulled up when 
they saw how it was. G.'s horse galloped on two miles 
for its own amusement, and then he made it go another 
for his, and finally changed it for his own horse, whose 
merits rose by comparison. I was in the carriage 
behind, and W. came up in the greatest fuss — having 
heard of the mistake — and just as he was saying the 
horse would run away, two of the guard came back to 
say it had done so ; so he had the pleasure of a good 
prophecy. 

Yesterday we came twelve miles. My health is 
neither better nor worse, so I came on in the carriage ; 
all the others rode the last four miles, and were met by 
M. and all his staff at the town of Ferozepore. G. let 
me go on half a mile in advance, in order to avoid the 
dust, which must have shocked General R., who never 
lets even a little dog precede him in his march. 

I passed him and his suite by the side of the road, 
drawn up according to the strictest rule — a very large 
body of cocked hats. General R. in front, alone, then 
a long row of general officers, then a longer row of a 
lower grade. It was too awful and military a moment 
for speech. I was not sure whether it was not irregular 
to kiss my hand ; however, I ventured on that little 
movement, which was received with a benign i clignote- 
ment de l'oeil 5 signifying f Wrong, but I forgive it for 
once.' 

o 2 



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I got in three-quarters of an hour before the rest, 
who came a foot's pace, and General E. told F. they 
always marched that fashion — General R. first, they 
behind — a trot never allowed. 

General R. was uncommonly affable, and came and 
paid me a visit in my tent, where I was lying down, all 
dust and fatigue, and wishing for breakfast. Sir W. 
C, too, came in for a moment, in the highest glee, not 
so fat as he was at Calcutta — we expected he would 
have been twice the size. I told him he was grown 
thin, and he went back to his favourite story of the 
courtiers telling George IV., when he was at his fattest, 
6 Your Majesty is regaining your figure ! ' 

We had a most interesting envoy from General A., 
who is employed by Runjeet in Peshawur, and who 
wrote to each of us his polite French regrets that he 
could not come here, but he sent i un tres petit paquet ' 
of the shawls we had commissioned him to get worked 
in Cashmere, when we saw him in Calcutta, and also 
the Cashmere gowns he had promised. He declared 
that there never were such failures ; that he had sent 
seven or eight ' surveillants ' to Cashmere, ( mais on m'a 
tout gate.' 

An hour after, there arrived, instead of the c petit 
paquet,' a very large pillow, or rather a small ottoman, 
brought in by two men, and then we had such cutting 
and nicking and tearing away of oilcloth and muslin 
and shawl paper, and at last arrived at the treasures. 
Four shawl dresses, four magnificent square shawls, and 
four long scarfs to match the dresses — but the fineness 
and the brightness of the whole concern it is impossible 
to describe. One gets to value shawls only by their 



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197 



fineness at last, and we have seen nothing like these. 
They have been a year and a half in making. We have 
ascertained the prices of these shawls, which are very 
cheap considering their beauty. The dresses were at 
Calcutta promised us as presents; but under the circum- 
stances of our being in Runjeet's country, and A. one 
of his generals, we want to pay for them, which Captain 
E. has undertaken to do. I now say once more, as I 
have often said before, I really don't want any more 
shawls, but yet I do always when they come in my way. 

In the afternoon Sir W. C, B., W., M., and two or 
three more, went on elephants to compliment the Maha- 
rajah, and met half-way Kurruck Singh, his son and 
supposed heir, Ajeet Singh, our Simla friend, and Su- 
jeyt Singh, the great dandy of the Punjab, with several 
others coming to compliment Gr. The Maharajah had 
the best of the bargain. 

Kurruck Singh is apparently an idiot ; some people 
say he only affects it, to keep Runjeet from being 
jealous of him, but it looks like very unaffected and 
complete folly. 

Runjeet kept our deputation very late. He was in 
the highest spirits, W. said, and laughed out loud at 
several jokes. Sir AY. C. took the fancy of all the 
Sikhs. He is very jovial, besides being courteous in 
his manners, and talks at a great rate. Runjeet pro- 
duced some of his wine, a sort of liquid fire, that none 
of our strongest spirits approach, and in general Euro- 
peans cannot swallow more than a drop of it. 

Sir W. tossed off his glass and then asked for another, 
which they thought very fine. He came back of course 
very tipsy, but they said he was very amusing at din- 



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ner. There are always nautches at these durbars, and 
one of W.'s former acquaintances, called e the Lotus,' 
who is very beautiful, looked so pretty that TV. asked 
E. if he might give her the little bunch of pearl flowers 
that was given to all the gentlemen. E. said it would 
amuse the Maharajah, and so it did, but B. is seriously 
uneas}^ at the dreadful loss to Government of the pearl 
bouquet. It was worth about ten shillings, I suppose. 

Friday. 

Yesterday was the day of the great meeting. All the 
ladies (only ten with the whole army) came to break- 
fast at half-past seven, and so did ( the great Panjan- 
drum himself.' 

I have not been to any meal, and hardly have seen 
anybody, for the last three weeks, so I did not join 
them till it was nearly time for Runjeet to arrive : 
when he was at the end of the street, G. and all the 
gentlemen went on their elephants to meet him. 

There were such a number of elephants, that the 
clash at meeting was very great, and very destructive 
to the howdahs and hangings. G. handed the Maha- 
rajah into the first large tent, where we were all waiting; 
but the Sikhs are very unmanageable, and they rushed 
in on all sides, and the European officers were rather 
worse, so that the tent was full in a moment, and as the 
light only comes in from the bottom, the crowd made it 
perfectly dark, and the old man seemed confused and 
bothered. However, he sat down for a few minutes on 
the sofa between G. and me, and recovered. He is 
exactly like an old mouse, with grey whiskers and one 
eye. When they got into the inner tent, which was to 



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199 



have been quite private, the English officers were just 
like so many bears ; put aside all the sentries, abso- 
lutely refused to listen to the aides-de-camp, and filled 
the room ; so then, finding it must be public, G. sent 
us word we might all come there, and we had a good 
view of it all. 

Runjeet had no jewels on whatever, nothing but the 
commonest red silk dress. He had two stockings on at 
first, which was considered an unusual circumstance ; 
but he very soon contrived to slip one off, that he might 
sit with one foot in his hand, comfortably. B. was much 
occupied in contriving to edge one foot of his chair on 
to the carpet, in which he at last succeeded. 

Next to him sat Heera Singh, a very handsome boy, 
who is Runjeet's favourite, and was loaded with 
emeralds and pearls. Dhian Singh his father is the 
prime minister, and uncommonly good-looking : he 
was dressed in yellow satin, with a quantity of chain 
armour and steel cuirass. All their costumes were very 
picturesque. There were a little boy and girl about 
four and five years old, children of some of Runjeet's 
sirdars who were killed in battle, and he always has 
these children with him, and has married them to each 
other. They were crawling about the floor, and run- 
ning in and out between Runjeet and G., and at one 
time the little boy had got his arm twisted round G.'s 
leg. I sent to ask B. for two of the common pearl 
necklaces that are given as khelwuts, and sent them 
with a private note round to G., who gave them to the 
children, which delighted the old mouse. 

After half an hour's talk, Sir W. C, with some of 
our gentlemen, inarched up the room with my picture 



200 UP THE COUNTRY. 

of the Queen on a green and gold cushion ; all the 
English got up, and a salute of twenty-one guns was 
fired. Runjeet took it up in his hands, though it was 
a great weight, and examined it for at least five 
minutes with his one piercing eye, and asked B. for an 
explanation of the orb and sceptre, and whether the 
dress were correct, and if it were really like ; and then 
said it was the most gratifying present he could have 
received, and that on his return to his camp, the 
picture would be hung in front of his tent, and a royal 
salute fired. When all the other presents had been 
given that could come in trays, 200 shells (not fish, 
but gunpowder shells) were presented to the Mahara- 
jah, and two magnificent howitzers, that had been cast 
on purpose for him (as I think I told you), which 
seemed to please him; and outside, there was an 
elephant with gold trappings, and seven horses equally 
bedizened. His strongest passion is still for horses : 
one of these hit his fancy, and he quite forgot all his 
state, and ran out in the sun to feel its legs and ex- 
amine it. Webb (the coachman) went down in the 
afternoon to take the Mizzur horses to Runjeet, and 
gave us such an amusing account of his interview. 

He talks a sort of half- Yorkshire, half-Indian 
dialect. 

e Why, you see, my lord, I had a long job of it. 
The old man was a-saying of his prayers, and all the 
time he was praying, he was a-looking after my horses. 
At last he gets up, and I was tired of waitiug in all 
that sun. But law ! Miss Eden, then comes that 
picture that you've been a-paintingof ; and then the old 
man sends for his sirdar, and that sirdar and they all 



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201 



go down on their knees, a matter of sixty of them, and 
first one has a look and then the other, and Runjeet he 
asked me such a many questions, I wished the picture 
further. He talked about it for an hour and a half, 
and I telled him I never seed the Queen. How should 
I ? I have been here with two Governor-Generals, 
and twelve years in India above that. So then he 
says, says he, " which Governor-General do you like 
best ? " And I says, " Why, Maharajah, I haint 
much fault to find with neither of them." So then we 
had out the horses, and there the old man was a-run- 
ning about looking at 'em, more like a coolie than a king. 
I never see a man so pleased, and he made me ride 'em. 
So, when I had been there four hours a'most, all in 
the sun, he give me this pair of gold bracelets and this 
pair of shawls ; and he says, says he, " Go and show 
yourself to the Lord Sahib, just as you are : mind you 
don't take them off." But law ! I did not like to come 
such a figure, so here they are ! ' 

B. was standing by, so I had the presence of mind 
to say, ( Of course Lord A. should let Webb keep 
those ; ' and he said directly, that for any actual service 
done, it was only payment, and they would hardly pay 
Webb for all the trouble he had with the young horses. 
So Webb went off very happy, and I suppose when we 
return to Calcutta Mrs. Webb will be equally so. 



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CHAPTER XXVII. 

Sunday, Dec. 2, 1838. 
I WAS very much knocked up yesterday with the 
durbar of the day before. I never told you — such a 
horrid idea ! That box of yours, with that lovely 
velvet pelisse — that blue cloak — those little i modes ' of 
Mdlle. Sophie, are all food for sharks, I much fear. 
Pray always mention the name of the ship Jby which 
you send such treasures. You and R. both mentioned 
that these particular treasures sailed the last week in 
June ; the only two ships in the list that did sail then 
were the Seringapatam and the Protector. 

We have ascertained that the first had nothing for 
us, and the unfortunate Protector was wrecked at the 
Sandheads, and only five of the crew saved. There 
were all sorts of melancholy horrors about the ship- 
wreck, so for a long time it never occurred to me to 
think about my own little venture in it, but I suppose 
it must have been there. The passengers, after they 
had been two days and nights in the boats, were 
passed by a ship coming to Calcutta, but this ship was 
in great danger from a squall, and as they were all a 
great way from land, she could not contrive to shorten 
sail, so that the shipwrecked people must have seen a 
ship pass them without making any sign, just as they 
were almost at the last gasp. I am sure that must 
have added a pang to death. 

A pang is added to the loss of my box, by my seeing 
6 a box of wearing apparel picked up at sea, from the 



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203 



wreck of the Protector, to be sold by auction for the be- 
nefit of ' I forget who— the individual that picked it 

up. Mine to a certainty, and if they will not let me have 
the box, I cannot see why it is not sold for my benefit. 
To return to my Journal. — On Thursday evening G. 
gave a dinner to fifty generals and colonels, &c, and 
they say St. Cloup covers himself with glory by the 
dinners he turns out. They really are wonderful. I 
sent for him this morning to tell him so, and he is 
always very amusing, so like one of Mathews' negroes. 

c Si madame est contente, il n'y a rien a dire, et 
assurement je fais de mon mieux, mais enfin qu'est ce 
qu'il y a ? — pas de legumes, pas de fruit ; il ne faut 
pas tuer un boeuf, a cause de la religion de ces maudits 
Sikhs ; enfin j'ai de la poussiere pour sauce. Mon 
Dieu, quel pays ! ' 

On Friday morning G. went to return Runjeet's 
visit. It was just a repetition of the same ceremonies, 
he says. He asked G. to come back to a private con- 
ference for two hours before the nautch, which he is to 
give us to-morrow. Some of his presents were very 
handsome, particularly a bed with gold legs, com- 
pletely encrusted with rubies and emeralds, all the 
furniture of the bed being yellow shawl. There was 
also one pair of blue shawls, which cost Runjeet 240/., 
and which are quite unique. 

G. gave another great dinner to fifty colonels, 
majors, &c, and F. and I dined in my tent. His man- 
dinner for once turned out pleasant and talkative. St. 
Cloup maintained his reputation, and I think G. and 
W. came over after dinner rather merry than otherwise. 

This is a dreadfully noisy camp. The cavalry have 



204 



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pitched themselves just behind our tents : one horse 
gets loose, and goes and bites all the others, and then 
they kick and get loose too, and all the syces wake and 
begin screaming, and the tent pitchers are called to 
knock in the rope pins, and the horses are neighing all 
the time, till they are tied up again. Then the infantry 
regiment has got a mad drummer (or two or three). 
He begins drumming at five in the morning and never 
intermits till seven. I suppose it is some military 
manoeuvre, but I wish he would not. It was so like 
dear Shakespeare, specifying the 6 neighing steed and 
the spirit-stirring drum,' both assisting to make ambi- 
tion virtue, the particular virtue of patience being what 
he had in his eye, of course. 

I have got Captain X. and Captain M. to make a 
nightly round before they go to bed, and I think the 
horses are a few yards further off, but any good sleep 
is quite out of the question. 

Yesterday Gr. went off at three with B.. C, and AY., 
for a private talk with Runjeet, but the old fellow did 
not talk much business, he likes gossip so much better, 
and he said he thought the fakeer and B. might meet 
and talk business without interrupting Gr. and him. 
F. got Sir AY. C. to come here and chaperon her to 
the nautch that was to be given in the evening. She 
says it was very pretty, but not near so splendid as 
what we saw at Benares or Lucknow. Runjeet gave 
her a string of small pearls, a diamond ring, and a pair 
of diamond bangles. 

G. has given her leave to buy any of them from the 
Tosha Khanna as a keepsake, but the ring is the only 
tempting article. 



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205 



Monday Evening, Dec. 3. 

G. went to meet Runjeet at seven this morning, and 
F. joined them on her elephant as they went through 
our street. I did not set off in the carriage till past 
eight, and when I got to the ground I was still too 
early, for Runjeet, instead of being satisfied with a 
general view of the line, insisted on riding down the 
whole of it, about three miles, and inspecting every 
man. 

F., Major W., C, and I waited at the flagstaff till 
their return, which was a beautiful sight (I mean their 
return was beautiful, not our waiting). 

Old Runjeet looks much more personable on horse- 
back than in durbar, and he is so animated on all mili- 
tary matters that he rides about with the greatest 
activity. G. and he, and their interpreter, finally 
settled themselves at the flagstaff, and there G. sent 
for F. and me to come on our elephants to them. 

In front there was the army marching by. First, 
the 16th Hussars, then a body of native cavalry, then 
the Queen's Buffs, then a train of Artillery drawn by 
camels, then Colonel Skinner's wild native horsemen 
with their steel caps and yellow dresses — the band of 
each regiment wheeling off as they passed, and drawing 
up to play opposite to Runjeet. 

Behind us there was a large amphitheatre of ele- 
phants belonging to our own camp, or to the Sikhs, 
and thousands of Runjeet's followers all dressed in 
yellow or red satin, with quantities of their led horses 
trajiped in gold and silver tissues, and all of them 
sparkling with jewels. I really never saw so dazzling 
a sight. Three or four Sikhs would look like Astley's 



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broke loose, but this immense body of them saves their 
splendour from being melodramatic. The old man 
himself wears a sort of red stuff dress with a little 
edging of the commonest grey squirrel's fur, and a 
common red muslin turban. His horse, too, had less 
gold about it than any other. He was quite delighted 
with the review, and at the end of it his servants put 
down before him eleven bags, each containing 1,000 
rupees, to be distributed among the troops. When 
everything was done, all the chief people went to one 
tent, which we had pitched on the ground, where there 
was a dejeuner a la fourchette and all the right things. 

I drove straight home to our camp as soon as the 
troops had inarched by, so I did not see the breakfast ; 
but the cookery and the turn-out altogether seemed to 
have given such satisfaction, that I have just been 
buying a handsome diamond ring which G. is to present 
to St. Cloup, who is an absolute black angel. He went 
over-night to the review ground to cook his breakfast, 
then back here again, for a dinner of sixteen people, 
and to-morrow we are to have Runjeet in the evening, 
and a supper, or rather a dinner, for seventy people. 
St. Cloup says, with two English kitchenmaids nothing 
would be so easy, but the instant he goes to rest all the 
natives fling themselves on the floor and are asleep in 
a minute, leaving the saucers to take themselves off the 
fire. 

G. gave St. Cloup his ring, and his grin and jump 
would have delighted Mathews, though perhaps a little 
overdone for the stage. Runjeet came over early and 
went with G. to see the artillery, rather against his 
lordship's inclinations, for he had been to look in the 



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207 



morning and thought it a very poor show. However, 
Runjeet was delighted, and kept them there for two 
hours. We had prepared our fete at the end of the 
street — a large compound enclosed on three sides with 
a large tent for us, and a small one for Runjeet filling 
up the fourth side, guards all round to prevent anybody 
who had not an invitation from going in. The large 
tent opened into a long shemiana — I hardly know how 
to explain that, but it is, in fact, a tent without sides, 
merely a roof supported by pillars ; this looked out into 
the compound, which was laid out like a flower garden, 
only instead of flowers there were little lamps laid out, 
as thickly as they could be placed, in the shape of flower 
borders. On the ground alone, P. said, there were 
42,000 lamps, and the garden was railed in by an espa- 
lier of lamps. It was really very pretty and odd. G. 
and Runjeet had their great chairs in the centre, with 
B. on the other side of Gr., F. next to B., then Sir G% 
R. and a long row of ladies. I sat by the side of 
Runjeet, and next to me Kurruck Singh, his son, and 
then another long row of his sirdars. 

The instant Runjeet sat down, three or four of his 
attendants came and knelt down before him — one, the 
Fakeer Uzeez-ood-deen, who is his interpreter and 
adviser and the comfort of his life. We all ousfht to 
have Uzeez-ood-deens of our own, if we wish to be 
really comfortable. The others arranged his gold bottle 
and glass, and plates of fruit, and he began drinking 
that horrible spirit, which he pours down like water. 
He insisted on my just touching it, as I had not been 
at his party on Saturday, and one drop actually burnt 
the outside of my lips. I could not possibly swallow it. 



208 



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Those two little brats, in new dresses, were crawling 
about the floor, and he poured some of this fire down 
their throats. We had two bands to play ; and when 
the fireworks were over, a large collection of nautch- 
girls came in front of Runjeet, and danced and sang 
apparently much to his satisfaction. They were a very 
ugly set from Loodheeana. I could not help thinking 
how eastern we had become, everybody declaring it was 
one of the best-managed and pleasantest parties they 
had seen. All these satraps in a row, and those scream- 
ing oirls and crowds of lono-bearded attendants, and 
the old tyrant drinking in the middle — but still we ail 
said : ( What a charming party ! ' just as we should 
have said formerly at Lady C.'s or Lady J.'s. I could 
not talk with any o-reat ease, beins: on the blind side of 
Runjeet, who converses chiefly with his one eye and a 
few signs which his fakeer makes up into a long speech ; 
and Kurruck Singh was apparently an idiot. Luckily, 
beyond him was Heera Singh, who has learnt a little 
English, and has a good idea of making topics, and when 
C. came and established himself behind the sofa I got 
on very well with Runjeet. 

After the conversation had lasted nearly an hour, 
there was, I suppose, a little pause between G. and him, 
for he turned round and said something which C. trans- 
lated in his literal way, 6 The Maharajah wishes your 
lordship would talk a little more friendship to him.' Gr. 
solemnly declared he had talked an immense deal of 
friendship, but, of course, he began again. Another of 
Runjeet's topics was his constant praise of drinking, and 
he said he understood that there were books which 
contained objections to drunkenness, and he thought it 



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209 



better that there should be no books at all, than that 
they should contain such foolish notions. He is a very 
drunken old profligate, neither more nor less. Still he 
has made himself a great king ; he has conquered a great 
many powerful enemies ; he is remarkably just in his 
government ; he has disciplined a large army ; he 
hardly ever takes away life, which is wonderful in a 
despot; and he is excessively beloved by his people. 

I certainly should not guess any part of this from 
looking; at him. 

After two hours' palaver he got up to go. I gave 
him a large emerald ring, and G. gave him a magni- 
ficent diamond aigrette. It only arrived from Calcutta 
yesterday on speculation, and was thought too expen- 
sive, but G. had a great fancy to give it to Runjeet, it 
was so beautifully set. After the Sikhs were all 
gone, we went back to our private tents, where there 
was a souper-dinatoire for seventy people ; and that is 
our final festivity. 

Thursday, Dec. 6. 

All the gentlemen went at daybreak yesterday to 
Runjeet's review, and came back rather discomfited. 
He had nearly as many troops out as Sir G. R. had ; 
they were quite as well disciplined, rather better 
dressed, repeated the same military movements and 
several others much more complicated, and, in short, 
nobody knows what to say about it, so they say 
nothing, except that they are sure the Sikhs would run 
away in a real fight. It is a sad blow to our vanities ! 
you won't mention it to the troops in London — we say 
nothing about it to those here. 

This morning we marched again, only just five miles, 
p 



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so as to get into the Punjab ; and GL, who had more 
last words to say to Sir (x. R. and the army, did not 
come till the afternoon. 

Saturday, Dec. 8. 

Shere Singh, Hunjeet's son, is our melunander, and 
takes care of us through the Punjab. Runjeet feeds the 
whole camp while we are in his country, men and 
beasts — the men 15,000 (we thought it was only 
10,000; but when every regiment we had sent in its 
full muster-roll, it came to 15,000). 

Shere Singh is a very jolly dog, and proffered to 
dine with us yesterday, which means sitting at dinner 
with his eyes fixed on G. ; he will drink, but not eat. 
I did not go in to dinner, but was in the same tent, 
and thinking the conversation seemed to flag, sent 
Chance to W. O., who made him show off the multi- 
tude of tricks he has acquired ; and it set Shere Singh 
and his attendants off laughing, and filled up the time. 
I dare say Shere would be pleasant if one spoke his 
language. 

Sunday, Dee. 9. 

To our horror, Shere Singh offered himself again for 
dinner yesterday. We had four strange officers as it 
was, and this promised to be an awful dinner ; but it 
turned out very well. He brought his little boy, 
Pertab Singh, seven years old, with eyes as big as 
saucers, and emeralds bigger than his eyes ; and he is 
such a dear good child ! Gr. gave the little boy a box 
containing an ornamented pistol, with all sorts of con- 
trivances for making bullets, all of which Pertab knew 
how to use. We accused Shere Singh of having taken 
a watch that had been given to his little boy ; and he 



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211 



pretended to put this pistol in his sash, and it was very- 
pretty to see the little fellow's appeal to Gr. ; but in 
the middle of it all, he turned round to his father and 
said — f But you know, Maharaj Gee (your Highness), 
what is yours is mine, and what is mine is yours ; I 
will lend it to you whenever you like.' Shere Singh 
thought the child was talking too much at one time, 
and made him a sign, upon which the boy sunk down 
in the eastern fashion, with his legs crossed and his 
hands clasped, and he fixed his eyes like a statue. 
None of us could make him look or hear, and we asked 
his father at last to let him play, as we were used to 
children at home. He said one word, and the way in 
which Pertab jumped up was just like a statue coming 
to life. His father is very fond of him, but Runjeet 
very often keeps the boy as a hostage when Shere 
Singh is employed at a distance. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Camp, Umritzir, Dec. 10, 1838. 

It has just occurred to me, in dating this letter, that 
we are very near the end of '38, and in '39 we may 
begin to say, e The year after next we shall go home.' 
I never know exactly where we are in our story, for I 
keep so many anniversaries it puts me out. So many 
people have married, and died, and gone home, that it 
is really incr-edible that we should have been here so 
long, and yet are kept here still. Something must be 
done about it, because it is a very good joke ; but life 

p 2 



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is passing away, and we are in the wrong place. It 
has now come to that pass that we are in a foreign 
country from India, and that crossing the Sutlej is to 
be called going home again. You see how it is ! Our 
first principles are wrong, and G. says, with a placid 
smile, i If Shere Singh does not dine with us to-day, 
would it not be advisable to ask Hindu Rao ?' — Hindu. 
!Rao being a Mahratta chief, a dependent on our 
Government^ who has attached himself to our camp — 
not quite an idiot, but something like it, and in appear- 
ance like a plump feather-bed, with pillows for his head 
and legs — covered all over with chain armour and 
cuirasses, and red and yellow shawls ; and he sits be- 
hind Gr. at table, expecting to have topics found and 
interpreted to him. Shere Singh has a great deal of 
fun ; but natives at table are always a great gene. I 
had only time to tell you of our arrival at Umritzir on 
Wednesday, and not of the show, which was really sur- 
prising. F. and I came on in the carriage earlier than 
the others, which was a great advantage ; for the dust 
of fifty or sixty elephants does not subside in a hurry, 
and they spoil the whole spectacle. We met the old 
man o-oino- to fetch G. That is one of the ceremonies, 
naturally tiresome, to which we have become quite 
used, and which, in fact, I shall expect from you, when 
we go home. If the Maharajah asks G . to any sight, 
or even to a common visit, G. cannot stir from his tent, 
if he starves there, till an f istackball,' or embassy, 
comes to fetch him. So this morning; we were all 
dressed by candle-light, and half the tents were pulled 
down and all the chairs but two gone, while G. was 
waiting for Kurruck Singh to come seven miles to 



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% 



213 



fetch him, and Kurruck Singh was waiting till the 
Governor- General's agent came to fetch him, and then 
the Maharajah was waiting till they were half-way, 
that he might fetch them all. Then, the instant they 
meet, G. nimbly steps into Runjeet's howdah, and they 
embrace French fashion, and then the whole procession 
mingles, and all this takes place every day now. If the 
invitation comes from our side, B. and the aides-de- 
camp act Kurruck Singh, and have to go backwards 
and forwards fifteen miles on their elephants. So now, 
if ever we are living in St. John's Wood, and you ask 
me to dinner in Grosvenor Place, I shall first send 
Giles down to your house to say I am ready ; and you 
must send R., as your istackball, to fetch me, and I 
shall expect to meet you yourself, somewhere near 
Connaught Place, and then we will embrace and drive on, 
and go hand-in-hand in to dinner, and sit next to each 
other. If I have anything to say (which is very doubt- 
ful, for I have grown rather like Hindu Rao), I will 
mention it to Giles, who will repeat it to Gooby, who 
will tell you, and you will wink your eye and stroke 
your hair, and in about ten minutes you will give me 
an answer through the same channels. Now you 
understand. 

To return to this show. We drove for two miles 
and a half through a lane of Runjeet's ( goocherras,' or 
bodyguard. The sun was up and shining on them, 
and I suppose there was not one who would not have 
made the fortune of a painter. One troop was dressed 
entirely in yellow satin, with gold scarfs and shawls ; 
but the other half were in that cloth of gold which is 
called kincob — the fond being gold and the pattern 



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scarlet^, or purple, or yellow ; their arms were all 
gold — many of them had collars of precious stones ; 
their shields and lances were all studded with gold. 
They have long beards down to their waists, and most 
of them had a silver or gold tissue drapery, which they 
bring over their heads and pass round their beards to 
keep them from the dust. In the distance there was a 
long line of troops extending four miles and a half, and 
which after much deliberation I settled was a white 
wall with a red coping. I thought it could not possibly 
be alive ; but it was — with 30,000 men. ' Gr. says old 
Runjeet was very much pleased with his own display. 
Shere Singh dined with us again ; but otherwise it was 
a day of rest. 

Thursday we began poking about to find shawls 
and agate curiosities, which are supposed to abound 
at Umritzir ; but our native servants are afraid of go- 
ing into the bazaars : they say the Sikhs laugh at 
them and their dress. My man told me c they are a 
very proudly people, me not much like ; they say, 
" What this ? " and " What that ? " I say, " It Mus- 
sulmun dress — if you not like, don't touch ! " Then 
they say, " No city like our Umritzir ! " I say, " I say 
nothing against your Umritzir ; but then you never 
see anything else. If you come to Calcut, I show you 
beautiful things — ships that go by smoke, and fine 
houses." However, they are so proudly that now I 
pretend I no understand their Punjabee, but I know 
what they mean.' 

With all their ( proudliness'* they are very civil to 
our people, and told them that the Maharajah had pro- 
claimed he would put to death anybody who maltreated 



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215 



any of the Governor-General's followers ; or, as they 
expressed it, that ' he would cut open their stomachs' — 
very unpleasant, for a mere little incivility. In the 
afternoon he sent word he was going to show us the 
city and the famous Sikh temple, where he had con- 
sulted the oracle about his present alliance with us. 
This temple is the only thing the Sikhs are supposed 
to venerate in a religious way. After all the plans 
were settled, a grand schism sprang up in our camp 
about G.'s taking off his shoes, and parties ran very 
high ; however, I believe it was settled that it was 
impossible he could ever take off his shoes, except for 
the purpose of going to bed ; but then it was equally 
impossible to rebut Runjeet's great civility in letting 
us go to this temple at all, and it was not a question of 
state. Runjeet takes off his shoes and stoops down, 
and puts some of the dust on his forehead ; it amounts 
to taking off a hat, and only answers to the same respect 
that we should wish anybody to pay on entering one of 
our own churches. So it ended in G.'s drawing a pair 
of dark stockings on over his boots, and the Sikhs 
made no objection. F, and I went in white shoes, and 
pretended to take off our dressing slippers from over 
them. All they really care about is, that their sacred 
marble should not be defiled by shoes that have trod 
the common streets. I am glad we went, and would 
have given up my shoes, and stockings too, for it. 

The temple stands in an immense tank of holy water, 
and a narrow marble bridge leads to it. There is a 
broad walk all round the tank, and it is surrounded by 
palaces belonging to his principal sirdar, and by other 
holy buildings. 



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The temple is of pure gold, really and truly covered 
completely with gold, most beautifully carved, till 
within eight feet from the ground, and then there are 
panels of marble inlaid with flowers and birds — very 
Solomonish altogether. There are four large fold- 
ing-doors of gold. We walked round it, and then 
Runjeet took us in. 

There was a large collection of priests, sitting in a 
circle, with the Grooht, their holy book, in the centre, 
under a canopy of gold cloth, quite stiff with pearls 
and small emeralds. The canopy cost 10,000/. Run- 
jeet made G. and F. and me sit down with him on a 
common velvet carpet, and then one of the priests made 
a long oration, to the effect that the two great poten- 
tates were now brothers and friends, and never could 
be otherwise. Then G. made a speech to the same 
effect, and mentioned that the two armies had joined, 
and they could now conquer the whole world ; and 
Runjeet carried on the compliment, and said that here 
the oracle had prompted him to make his treaty, and 
now they saw that he and the English were all one 
family. In short, you never saw two gentlemen on 
better terms with themselves and each other. G. pre- 
sented 16,000 rupees, and they, in return, gave us 
some very fine shawls. I think mine was scarlet and 
gold, but the Company's baboo twisted it up in such 
haste that I did not see it well. 

When all this was over, Runjeet took us up to a 
sort of balcony he has in one corner of the square, and 
by that time the bridge, the temple, the minarets, 
everything was illuminated. Shere Singh's palace was 
a sort of volcano of fireworks, and large illuminated 



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217 



fish were swimming about the tank. It was a curious 
sight, and supposed, by those who know the Sikhs, to 
be a wonderful proof of confidence on Punjeefs part. 

Yesterday my search for small agate curiosities was 
rather successful ; and the shawls here are not despi- 
cable by any means, and very cheap, but I happen to 
have spent all my money. W. O.'s tent is the great 
harbour for merchants, but I have found out that I 
make my little bargains better if I can convey my 
merchant safely into my own tent. 

They all went to a great review this morning, and 
we had Runjeet's French officers to dinner in the even- 
ing, besides the A.s and C.s ; and then Shere Singh, 
and that darling little Pertab came again to dinner. 

We had little Pertab to sketch this morning, and he 
was very pleasant. I asked him to fix his eyes on 
Captain M., who was acting interpreter. After a 
time he began to fidget, and his stern old Sikh tutor 
(you don't want a Sikh tutor for your boys by chance? — 
if so, I can safely recommend this man for a remark- 
ably good manner of teaching, besides haying a beard 
half a yard long) reproved him for it. Pertab declared 
he could not help it, — he was told to fix his eyes on 
M., and i this is the way he moves his head,' — and 
then he mimicked M. turning from one to the other 
and interpreting, in such a funny little way. We gave 
him a diamond ring, which seemed to delight him. 

In the evening we went to a garden half a mile off, 
where -Punjeet is living, and where he was going to 
give us an evening fete. He had had the house actually 
built on purpose, and it was beautifully painted in an 
arabesque fashion, with small pieces of looking-glass 



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let in, in various patterns. The walks of the garden 
were all lined with those splendid soldiers. 

I whispered to Major E., who was sitting on the 
other side of me, to ask if it would be wrong to step 
out of the house to look at these gorgeous people, as I 
had missed all the other opportunities of seeing them ; 
and the old Maharajah did not wait to have the ques- 
tion explained— he delights to show off his soldiers. 
He jumped up, and took hold of my hand, and ambled 
out into the garden, and then made all the guards 
march by, and commented on their dresses, and he 
looked so fond of the old grey-bearded officers. 

There is something rather touching in the affection 
his people have for him. The other day, in going 
through the city, it struck us all, the eagerness with 
which they called out ' Maharajah !' and tried to touch 
him, which is easy enough in these narrow streets, and 
the elephants reaching to the roofs of the houses. 

When we had sufficiently admired the golden men, 
we all ambled back to our silver chairs, and then the 
drinking and nautching began. [Nothing can be more 
tiresome ! But he asked, some very amusing questions 
of G., which I believe C. softened in the translation. 
If he had a wife ? and when satisfied about that, How 
many children he had ? Then he asked why he had no 
wife ? G. said that only one was allowed in England, 
and if she turned out a bad one, he could not easily get 
rid of her. Runjeet said that was a bad custom ; that 
the Sikhs were allowed twenty-five wives, and they 
did not dare to be bad, because he could beat them if 
they were. G. replied that was an excellent custom, 
and he would try to introduce it when he got home. 



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219 



Then Runjeet asked if there was anybody present who 
could drink wine as well as Sir W. C, and I said, for 
fun, 6 Mr. A. could ; ' upon which there was a general 
cry for A., and poor Mr. A. was accommodated with 
a chair in front of all the circle, and Runjeet began 
plying him with glasses of that fiery spirit he drinks 
himself. Mr. A. is at present living strictly on toast 
and water ! However, he contrived to empty the glass 
on the carpet occasionally. That carpet must have 
presented a horrible scene when we went. I know 
that under my own chair I deposited two broiled quails, 
an apple, a pear, a great lump of sweetmeat, and some 
pomegranate seeds, which Runjeet gave me with his 
dirty fingers into my hand, which, of course, became 
equally dirty at last. 

F. and I came away before the others. He gave 
me the presents which were due, as I had never been 
at one of his parties before. They were very hand- 
some ; the best row of pearls we have had in this jour- 
ney, with a very good emerald between every ten 
pearls ; a magnificent pair of emerald bracelets, and a 
shabby little ring. Gr. handsomely offered to buy the 
pearls for me ; but that is not what we came to India 
for. It is very well his buying a little ring, or a shawl, 
for ten or fifteen pounds, but I do not want pearl 
necklaces. 

I believe now in the story our governess used to tell 
us, of grocers' apprentices, who, in the first week of 
their apprenticeship, were allowed to eat barley-sugar 
and raisins to such an amount that they never again 
wished to touch them. We thought that a myth ; but 
I have latterly had such a surfeit of. emeralds, pearls, 



220 UP THE COUNTRY. 

and diamonds, that I have quite lost any wish to 
possess them. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Monday, Dec. 17th, 1838. 

The Maharajah asked G. to go with him on Sunday 
afternoon to look at his fort of Govindghur, in which 
he keeps all his treasures ; and it is certain that who- 
ever gets hold of Govindghur at his death will also 
get hold of his kingdom. He never allows anybody 
to enter it, and E. says, that in all the thirteen years 
he has been with him he has never been able to get a 
sight of it, and he was convinced that Runjeet would 
either pretend to be ill, or to make some mistake in 
the hour, so that he would not really show G. even 
the outside of it. It was rather late before Kurruck 
Singh came to fetch G. ; however, they soon met the 
Maharajah, and went towards the fort. An officer 
came to ask his f hookum,' or orders, and he told him 
to have the gates opened, and desired G. to take in all 
the officers of his escort, even any engineers. Then 
he led him all over the fort, showed him where the 
treasure was kept, took him up to the roof, where 
there was a carpet spread, and two gold chairs, and 
there sat and asked questions about cannons and shells, 
and mines, and forts in general. The Europeans were 
all amazed ; but they say the surprise of Runjeet's own 
sirdars was past all concealment ; even the common 
soldiers began talking to B. about it, and said that 



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221 



they now saw that the Sikhs and English were i to 
be all one family, and to live in the same house.' It 
certainly is very odd how completely the suspicious 
old man seems to have conquered any feeling of 
jealousy, and it is entirely his own doing, against 
the wishes and plans of his prime ministers, and of 
most of his sirdars ; but he has taken his own line, 
and says he is determined to show how complete his 
confidence is. 

Whenever he dies, this great kingdom, which he 
has raked together, will probably fall to pieces again. 
His prime minister, Dhian Singh, will probably take 
Cashmere and the hill provinces, and,- they say, is 
strong enough to take all the rest. But the people 
generally incline to the foolish son Kurruck Singh, 
and he will have the Punjab. The army is attached 
to our dear friend Shere Singh; but Runjeet has 
deprived him of most of his income, or it is just 
possible his dear fat head will be chopped off, unless 
he crosses to our side of the river. 

Wednesday, Dec. 19th. 

We marched yesterday from Umritzir, and are to 
make four marches to Lahore. 

The maids were quite delighted with an adventure 
they had in the morning's march. Several mounted 
soldiers stopped their elephant, and said that Shere 
Singh's wife wanted to see them. She came up in 
a dhoolie covered with gold curtains, in which there 
was a slit, through which she protruded one finger and 
then presented an eye. After a long study of Jones, 
she told her bearers to carry her round to the other 



22-2 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



side of the elephant, and desired Wright to put up 
her veil, that she might hare a good look at her. 
Then she told them that she had never seen any white 
women before, and that they must come to her tent. 
An hour after breakfast one of her guards arrived 
and carried off the hirkaru who had been with the 
maids, and took him to Shere Singh's camp, where 
the lady spoke to idm from behind the purdah, and 
said she must have a visit from the maids, and that 
she was going to take a bath and dress herself, and 
then they were to come. I wrote to Major E. for his 
advice, and he made all the necessary enquiries, but 
unluckily ascertained that this was not one of the four 
legitimate Mrs. Sheres, who are visitable, and indeed 
the most exemplary wives in the world. Tins woman 
is all very well in her way, and for many years has 
been the reigning favourite, but he thought they had 
better not go to see her. The difficulty was to make 
an excuse, as she is always accustomed to have her 
own way, but G. managed it somehow. I was rather 
sorrv he was so prudish, for it would have been a 
great treat for the maids, and something quite new. 
Shere Singh and his boy dined with us. He made a 
long whispered confidence to Mr. A. in the evening, 
and then went off to the other table, that Mr. A. 
might whisper it to me, and it was to the effect that 
his wife (that improper word natives cannot bear to 
mention) had heard from her little boy that we had 
been kind to him, and was longing to see us, and had 
prepared presents for us ; and he hoped we would go 
to his palace at Lahore. 



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223 



Shalimar, Thursday, Dec. 20th. 
Slialimar is the garden where Dr. D. and W. lived 
when they suffered so much from heat last year. We 
are encamped close by it. I believe it is the real 
Shalimar where Lalla Rookh recognised Feramorz, 
but we do not happen to have a ' Lalla Rookh ' at 
hand. Shere Singh came to my tent to sit for his 
picture — such a gorgeous figure ! all over diamonds 
and emeralds ; and as it was a first private visit, he 
brought a bag of rupees, which he waved round and 
threw on the ground, and of which it is indelicate 
to take the least notice. It is still more indelicate 
taking them at all, I think, but it cannot be helped. 
He made a very good picture. He was extremely 
curious about the arrangement of our tents, and poked 
about, looking into every book and box ; and as he 
went away, he made A. and W. take him round to 
F.'s tent to look at everything there. I believe 
nothing can equal the shock it is to the Sikhs in 
general to see F. and me going about in this way. 
They come in crowds to ask for an explanation from 
the native servants. It is unpleasant being considered 
so disreputable ; but f conscious worth, patient merit,' 
and all that sort of thing, serve to keep us up, to say 
nothing of not understanding what they say. F. and 
I went to sketch in the gardens in the afternoon. 
They are a thick grove of orange and limes, so that 
they are cool at all times. G. settled that he would go 
too and take a quiet walk and look about him, with only 
an aide-de-camp. Deluded creature ! Inexperienced 
traveller ! The instant he got on his elephant, bang 
went a gun. Shere Singh and Lehna Singh with their 



224 



UP THE COUXTEY. 



trains appeared, a troop of Sikhs wheeled up and 
began playing God save the Queen.' with every other 
bar left out, which makes rather a pretty air. Mr. C. 
was sent for to interpret. His lord-hip went on to 
the gardens, where we saw hhn debark, and a train 
of devoted gardeners met him with baskets of fruit. 
TTe made him a sign not to come and interrupt our 
sketching, but from the opposite walk there debouched 
Kurruck Singh, and Ajeet Singh, and the old fakeer. 
sent by Runjeet to see that all was right. The 
brothers Kurruck and Shere don't speak, and G. said 
it was horrible to see the agitation with which Shere 
Singh clutched hold of him, and Kurruck laid hold of 
the other hand, and they handed him along towards 
us, oversetting our tonjauns, and utterly discomposing 
our perspective. G. bears a real ceremony beautifully 
when he has made up his mind to it, and indeed rather 
likes it ; but when he has made up his mind the other 
way, and wishes to see any curious sight quietly, he 
becomes frantic with bore if he is interrupted. 

Lahore, Friday, Dec. 21. 

Yesterday evening Kunjeet gave us a party in the 
Shalimar Gardens, which were illuminated in every 
direction. The party was like all the others, except 
that it was less crowded, and there was an introduc- 
tion of Afghans. The brother of our enemy Dost 
Mahomed, who is not fettered by foolish feelings of 
family affection, has come over to us. He and his 
sons and followers were rather picturesque, with then 1 
enormous coarse turbans and cloth gaberdines, and 
great jack-boots, amongst all those jewelled Sikhs. 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



225 



Runjeet was extremely civil to them. I thought 
one of the amusing incidents of the evening would 
be, that I should topple over backwards, chair and all, 
into the garden below the sort of open summer-house 
in which we were sitting. Runjeet is particular in 
the arrangement of his circle — and also rather peculiar. 
He and Gr. were seated just in a corner of the open 
arch, so as to have a side view of the fireworks, and 
my chair was put next to Runjeet's in the middle of 
the arch, with no ledge to the floor and my back to the 
garden. I moved off, on pretence that I could see 
nothing, but he sent for me back again, and I think 
must have been disappointed at the precision with which 
I sat bolt upright. I always try to flirt a little with 
Kurruck Singh, the heir-apparent, who is supposed 
to be a goose, but e a great parti J as C. would say ; 
but I think the Maharajah sees through me, for he 
always says to C, e What's that?' and then answers 
for his son. I wish he would not — I think my 
Kurruck would be pleasant, if they ever let him open 
his lips. I asked him if he had ever tasted any 
English wine, and he said he never drank any wine 
at all, upon which Runjeet immediately gave him his 
own little glass full of spirits, and laughed with the 
greatest delight at his son's taking it. F. and I came 
away very early. 

Most of the camp came in procession with Gr. and 
the Maharajah through the town, which F. says was 
very dirty and not odoriferous. Runjeet led them in 
and out and round about for two hours. I cannot 
stand much elephant, so I came across the country in 
the tonjaun, with Captain E. and Mr. A., who rode. 

Q 



226 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



The Sikh guards led us right through the fields, where 
there was no shade, but it was rather nice, and gave 
one a reminiscence of Shottesbrooke and partridge 
shooting. We saw in the distance the dust of our 
moving camp, and blessed ourselves. It was only 
four miles by this route from one camp to the other. 
Of course, Shere Singh and Pertab came to dinner. 
The little boy is quite set on learning English, and he 
says, in such a droll voice, ( Chance, sit up,' ' plate,' 
( glass,' and a few other words he has picked up. To 
fill up the evenings, we have taught him that game of 
soldiers by making round dots on a piece of paper, 
which he and W. play at ; and before dessert was over, 
he asked whether it was not time to go into the next 
room. He wanted to kill Dost Mahomed with hi3 
pencil. 

Heera Singh, Eunjeet's favourite, came to my tent 
to sit for his picture, but there was some difficulty 
about his coming, so he arrived late, and it was too 
dark to draw him well. Runjeet sent word that he 
considered him 6 his best-beloved son,' and hoped some- 
body of consideration would be sent to fetch him. 
Dhian Singh, the prime minister, and the ruler of one- 
third of the Punjab, was coming at the same time to 
see (x. in a private manner. He is Heera Singh's 
father, but Runjeet sent f the best-beloved son' with 
quantities of elephants, and two regiments, to take care 
of him, while Dhian Singh came on horseback, with 
only four soldiers riding behind him. He is a very 
striking-looking man, and his manners are much more 
pleasing than his son's. 



UP TEE COUNTRY. 



227 



Sunday, Dec. 23. 

We went yesterday afternoon to a review of Run- 
jeet's goocherras. His grandson, iNoor Nahal, my 
friend Kurruck's son, and the probable Heir, was there. 
He very nearly died of cholera ten days ago, so we 
had not seen him. Runjeet treated him with great 
distinction. He was very interesting-looking, like 
young Lord E., with enormous black eyes, very sallow, 
as all Sikh natives are, and he was propped up with 
cushions and covered with jewels. He was very 
popular a year ago, but they say has turned out ill 
since he has been his own master. 

The first show of the day was Runjeet's private 
stud. I suppose fifty horses were led past us. The 
first had on its emerald trappings, necklaces arranged 
on its neck and between its ears, and in front of the 
saddle two enormous emeralds, nearly two inches 
square, carved all over, and set in gold frames, like 
little looking-glasses. The crupper was all emeralds, 
and there were stud-ropes of gold put on something 
like a martingale. Heera Singh said the whole was 
valued at 37 lacs (370,000/.) ; but all these valuations 
are fanciful, as nobody knows the worth of these enor- 
mous stones ; they are never bought or sold. The next 
horse was simply attired in diamonds and turquoises, 
another in pearls, and there was one with trappings of 
coral and pearl that was very pretty. Their saddle-cloths 
have stones woven into them. It reduces European 
magnificence to a very low pitch. 

Runjeet has got a fit of curiosity about our religion, 
from our having declined eno-ao-ements for Sundavs and 
for Christmas-day ; and he has sent the fakeer twice to 

Q2 



228 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



Mr. Y. to say he wants to have translations of what 
it is he says to the Lord Sahib every Sunday ; and 
to-day, after the review, he stopped Mr. Y. and asked 
him a great many questions about our prayers, &c. 

The review was picturesque, but rather tiresome ; 
however, I did not much care, for I changed places 
with E., and got a quiet corner from which I could 
sketch Eunjeet. I was on his blind side, but they 
said he found it out, and begged I might not be in- 
terrupted. One of his native painters was sketching 
G., and if my drawing looked as odd to him as his 
did to me, he must have formed a mean idea of the 
arts in England. They put full eyes into a profile, and 
give hardly any shade. They paint their own people 
with European complexions, from coxcombry, so that 
ours are a great puzzle to them, because we are so 
white. They had given G. light red hair. I made a 
great addition to my stock of curiosities yesterday in 
an agate dagger and cup, and I had a great miss this 
morning of some trays and cups japanned in Cashmere. 
A man brought them to my tent, and I would not buy 
them because it was Sunday ; upon which W. O., who 
does not keep the Sunday so well as I do, immediately 
snapped them up. This place is full of Cashmerees. 
G., and the camp in general, went across the river 
to see the ruins of Noorjhem's tomb. I went with 
X. to an enamelled mosque in the city, which must 
have been splendid in the Mussulman days, but the 
Sikhs keep up nothing of that sort. However, it is 
still very beautiful, and would have been charming 
sketching, but the crowd was so enormous the guards 
were of no use. It is not an uncivil crowd, all things 



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229 



considered — we merely threw them one and all into 
genuine fits of laughter; but X., who understands 
their language, says they did not say anything meant 
for impertinence, only they had never seen a European 
woman before, and ( what an odd thing it was to be so 
white ! ' And then my Leghorn bonnet was a great 
subject of wonder and dispute. 



CHAPTEE XXX. 

Monday, Dee. 24, 1838. 

The Maharajah is ill — he has cold and fever — so all 
parties, &c, are put off. We were to have visited his 
wives to-day, and to have had great illuminations at 
the palace; but as it is, we have passed a quiet comfort- 
able day. We sent word to Shere Singh that Christ- 
mas-eve was one of our great festivals, and that we 
could not be disturbed to-day or to-morrow ; and we 
have been quite alone this evening. 

Christmas Day. 

Runjeet still ill. Dr. D. has seen him twice, and 
says, if he were a common patient, he would be well 
in a day or two ; but they are all rather alarmed about 
him as it is. He never will take any medicine what- 
ever. Dr. D. says he has a little glass closet in a 
corner of his palace with a common charpoy to lie on, 
and no other furniture whatever, and hardly room for 
any. The fakeer was in attendance, and two or three of 
his coolies sitting on the ground at the door — the old 



230 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



man was asleep with all his clothes on. TThen he awoke, 
they Trashed his hands and feet, and then called Dr. D. 
in. He thought his voice very indistinct, and I fancy 
the danger is another stroke of palsy — he had one 
some years ago. However, he is not much worse than 
half the camp. This is a very aguish place, and three 
of the aides-de-camp are laid up with fever and ague. 
Xine officers of the escort stayed the communion to- 
day, which is a great many for so zmreligious a 
country as India. It is not //'religious, but people 
live without seeing a clergyman or a church till thev 
forget all about them. 

Wednesday.. Dec. 26. 

Eunjeet has been extremely curious about our Sun- 
days and Christmas-days, and, ill as he was, sent for 
Mr. Y. to-day, to explain to him what it meant. Mr. 
Y. took with him translations of the Lord's Prayer, 
the Ten Commandments, and the prayer for the 
Governor- General. Almost all the commandments 
must have been a puzzle to Punjeet's code, from the 
not worshipping graven images down to not coveting 
his neighbour's goods. He was very much interested, 
Mr. Y. said, and his fakeer and Dhian Singh asked a 
great many questions — the old man seemed very ill. 

P., F., and I went to sketch some ruins about two 
miles off. There is a troop of Akalees close by, an 
alarming class of people, who make it a rule never to 
live on anything they have not gained by plunder or 
force. They have occasionally set fire to whole 
villages, and Eunjeet even cannot control them, so he 
has incorporated some of them with his guards, but 
they wear their own dark blue dresses, with quoits 



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231 



of steel hanging all over them, which they fling 
at anybody and everybody. The other day, at the re- 
view of Runjeet's own guards, a small troop of these 
Akalees inarched past with the others, but all Hunjeet's 
sirdars gathered round him as they went by, and some 
of the Akalees abused them, and others called out to G. 
that they were going down to take Calcutta. They 
were very quiet with us to-day, but in the morning 
they had been very violent against Captain X. and 
Captain P. They are very picturesque. 

Friday, Dec. 28. 

We had a great fright about G. this morning — one 
of those sort of things one hates to think of, but yet 
which leave one thankful all the rest of the day, that 
matters were no worse. He went to a review of our 
three regiments, and was to ride a horse of W. O.'s, 
which used to have a trick of rearing so as to prevent 
anybody mounting it, but this trick was supposed to 
have been cured ; and as, when once mounted, he made 
a very quiet charger, G. meant to ride him. Yesterday 
he showed a little of his old fault, but to-day when G. 
put his foot in the stirrup he reared bolt upright. G. 
still persisted in trying him, in defiance of W.'s assur- 
ances that it would not be safe. I believe he did not 
hear them ; the second time, the horse reared, knocked 
down the syce, and bolted, throwing G. to the ground. 
Luckily, the one foot that was in did not catch fast in 
the stirrup. He was quite stunned for a minute, but, 
except a bruise on his shoulders, was not hurt at all. 
W. rode home in a great fright for a palanquin, and 
the servants, having kept the secret for five minutes, 



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could not then resist coming to wonder what had hap- 
pened. However, we had not a long fright ; the guns 
almost immediately began to fire again, so we knew 
that the review was going on ; and we soon heard that 
he was quite well. A great many of the chiefs im- 
mediately presented purses of money on his escape ; 
and after breakfast some of the soubadars came with 
their offerings of rupees, which, however, it was only 
necessary for him to touch. It was a narrow escape 
of a bad accident, and seems to have frightened the 
bystanders. In the afternoon he went to a private 
interview with the Maharajah, where all the treaties 
and papers connected with the Cabul business were 
read aloud. 

This lasted a long while, and at the end, an i istack- 
ball ' came to fetch F. and me to see a few of Run- 
jeet's wives — merely a slight sample of them. TTe 
saw the old man just for an instant ; he looked quite 
exhausted — almost dying — and made us over to 
Kurruck Singh and He era Singh, who, in his capacity 
of favourite, enters the anderoon, and I should think 
must endanger the peace of mind of some of the thirty- 
two Mrs. Eunjeets. He is very good-looking. Be- 
tween him and Rosina we contrived to obtain a very 
good interpretation of the conversation. 

The room was a wretched, little, low place : five of 
the ranees sat on silver chairs against the wall, with a 
great many of their slaves squatting round them, and 
we sat on chairs opposite them. Four of them were 
very handsome ; two would have been beautiful any- 
where. I suppose they were Cashmerees, they were 
so fair. Their heads look too large, from the quantity 



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233 



of pearls with which they load them, and their nose- 
rings conceal all the lower part of the face, and hang 
down almost to the waist. First, a crescent of dia- 
monds comes from the nose, and to that is hung strings 
of pearls, and tassels of pearls, and rings of pearls with 
emerald drops. I can't imagine how they can bear the 
weight ; and their earrings are just the same. 

Their immense almond-shaped black eyes are very 
striking. The conversation is always rather stupid : 
they laughed at our bonnets, and we rather jeered their 
nose-rings. They asked to hear my repeater strike, 
and I begged to feel the weight of their earrings, &c. 
Kurruck Singh was treated with the greatest respect 
by his five stepmothers ; his own is dead. 

They gave us rather shabby presents ; a small pearl 
necklace, and diamond bracelets. They utterly spoiled 
my new satin gown by that horrid attar they smear 
over their guests, and then we came away. I wish I 
could make out how these women fill up their lives. 
Heera Singh said they each had a little room of their 
own, like that we saw, but never went out of the ande- 
roon on any occasion. 

Saturday. 

It is a pouring day. We are encamped in the old 
bed of the river, and a very wet bed the river must 
have slept in. I never saw such a quagmire as my 
tent is. Nobody has been without a cold since we 
were at Ferozepore, but the sneezing and coughing 
never ceases now. 

Everybody is paddling about in overshoes, and 
we are carried to dinner in palanquins, and have 
trenches dug round our bedrooms, which are full of 



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water. G. and I went to the leave-taking in the shut 

carriage, with Kurruck Singh and A . Knrruck 

was greatly taken with my green satin cloak, and 
made so many hints for my boa, that it was only the 
impossibility of getting another, and a remarkably bad 
cold in my head, that prevented my giving it to him. 

Runjeet looked wonderfully better to-day. An 
hour was passed in giving khelwuts to all our gentle- 
men. He has got a cunning way of cutting off a great 
many with the ( Bright Star of the Punjab,' his new 
order. It is worth about fifty rupees. 

G. gave this morning the usual khelwuts of 1,000 
rupees to all Runjeet's sirdars ; the exchange will be a 
dead loss to the Company, and will eventually be the 
death of C. Runjeet's presents, to G. were his picture 
set in diamonds, with two rows of pearls ; a sword, 
matchlock, and belt, much bejewelled; a pair of 
shawls embroidered in seed-pearl, and the usual 
accompaniments — nothing very handsome. 

When the distribution was ended, Runjeet said to 
G., f Now speak some words of friendship to me.' So 
then G. made his farewell, and ended by saying he 
hoped Runjeet would wear a parting gift he had 
brought — that bunch of emerald grapes we got at 
Simla. 

They produced a great effect. Kurruck Singh and 
Noor Mahal, who were sitting on the other side of me, 
got up to see them, and there was a murmur of ap- 
plause, which is unusual at a durbar. Runjeet asked 
if G. had any request to make to him ; and G. said 
only one more, that he would occasionally wear the 
ring he was going to put on his finger, and he pro- 



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235 



duced the ring, made of one immense diamond, that 
was sent up from Calcutta on speculation. It nearly 
covered Runjeet's little finger, and it was quite odd to 
see the effect it had on the old man. He raised him- 
self quite up, and called for a candle to put behind it, 
and seemed quite taken by surprise ; and the gentle- 
men said that they overheard all the Sikhs commenting 
on the generosity of the Governor-General, and the 
real friendship he must have for the Maharajah to give 
him such presents. Runjeet took a most tender 
farewell of us ; and so now that is done. 

Monday, Dec. 31. 

After church, yesterday, Runjeet sent his treasures 
down with his great diamond, 6 the Light of the 
World,' which I did not see when the others saw it. 
It is very large, but not very bright. There were also 
some immense emeralds — some of those we had seen 
on the horses — and some enormous rubies. It was a 
curious sight. G.'s presents, however, looked very 
handsome, even amongst all these ; and the treasurer 
said Runjeet had had them in the morning to show to 
his chiefs, and that some of them had advised him to 
have the grapes made into a rosary, but he said he 
never would have it altered ; it should always be 
shown as a proof of the Governor-General's generosity, 
just as he gave it to him. The ring, which did not 
cost so much, the Sikhs, however, value still more. 

In the afternoon, F. and I went to pay our visit to 
Mrs. Shere Singh. Shere Singh thought it had been 
given up, and has been teasing E.'s heart out about 
it. It would have been ill-natured not to go, and, 



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moreover, we should have missed a very pretty sight. 
We have never been to any of their tents. Pertab came 
to fetch us. The tents are very near ours, and very 
showy-looking — all red and white stripes. 

We were received with a very noisy salute, and all 
his own goocherras, in their fancy dresses, were drawn 
up on each side of some fine shawl carpets. Shere 
Singh was a mass of gold and jewels himself, and it 
was a fine sight to see him come to the entrance, with 
all his people about him. 

We went first to a little tent, where we left E. and 
the two aides-de-camp, and which was fitted up very 
like an English drawing-room, full of plate, and musi- 
cal-boxes, and china. I suppose the French officers 
have taught him how to arrange a room ; indeed, 
General A. brought him most of the things. He went 
into an inner tent, and fetched out two wives — Pertab's 
mother, who is the chief ranee, and a second wife, who 
was immensely fat, and rather ugly ; but Pertab's 
mother was one of the prettiest little creatures I ever 
saw, very like Jenny Vertpre, but with the longest 
almond-eyes in the world, and with hands like a little 
child's. They were dressed just like Runjeet's ranees, 
but were much more talkative, and we stayed a long 
time with them, Rosina interpreting. I told her that 
Shere Singh had made me a present of Pertab, and 
that I hoped she would let me take him to England. 
And she took it seriously ; the tears came into those 
large eyes, and she said, ( You have other amusements, 
and you are going back to your own country ; there 
are four of us, and our only happiness is to see Pertab ; 
in another country he would be as dead! ' and then 



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237 



she put her little arms around him, and kissed him, 
and the other fat wife gave him a hug, and said she 
should die without him. The mother looked like a 
little girl herself. They gave us splendid presents, 
much finer than any of Runjeet's, and showed off all 
their own nicknackeries, and wanted us very much to 
come again, but we march to-morrow. I should like to 
see some of these high-caste ladies several times, without 
all this nonsense of presents, &c.,but so as to hear their 
story, and their way of life, and their thoughts. She 
did not seem at all afraid of Shere Singh, which is 
very unusual, and I believe does not see much of him. 

New Year's Day. 

There ! we left Lahore yesterday ; we have made two 
marches, and shall cross the river in four more ; and 
now it appears this post is to go only eighteen days 
after the last. This is a good day for winding-up of 
a Journal. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

Camp, near the Sutlej, Sunday, Jan. 6, 1839. 

I have allowed myself my accustomed four days' rest 
after sending off my Journal, and it comes just at a 
good time. We have had only our common marches 
to make from Lahore, and no break except that afforded 
by Shere Singh and little Pertab, who were again 
sent with us by the Maharajah, to see us safe across 
the river, and who were by way of being very senti- 
mental at parting with us. I believe, however, our 



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dear friend Shere is as great a rogue as may well be — 
at least, like all courtiers under a despotic king, he is 
full of intrigue and falseness, being always on the 
watch to provide for his own safety. He is also very 
extravagant, and has to go through a course of con- 
stant makeshifts to keep himself afloat. 

There are various ways of getting one's debts paid 
in various countries. Shere Singh is out of favour 
with the Maharajah ; but the other day Kunjeet put 
a pea on the point of a spear, and told all the sirdars 
to shoot at it from a considerable distance. Shere 
Singh hit it at the first shot, and Runjeet gave him six 
villages : and it is always by some feat of that kind 
that thev wrino- a sratuitv fr° m "the old man. Shere 
brought one evening a beautiful pair of shawls, such as 
are only made for the females of the Singh family, and 
gave them to F. and me, begging that we would really 
keep them and wear them, and nothing was to be 
given in exchange for them. I am sure we had fairly 
earned them by having him at dinner almost every day 
for a month; but, however, we handsomely added 
them to the public stock, and as soon as a committee 
of shawl merchants has sat on them, we are to buy 
them. The melancholy catastrophe of the week has 
been the death of F.'s lemur, after two days of illness. 
It caught cold, like the rest of the camp, in that swamp 
at Lahore, and died of inflammation in the stomach, so 
violent that no medicine was of the slightest use. 
Poor little wretch ! it was hardly possible to bear its 
screams at times : though as F. could not stand it, I 
did my auntly duties to it to the last. It is really a- 
oreat loss, it was such a clever little animal, and she- 



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239 



made such a constant occupation of it, that she misses 
it much, and is in a very low state. I own I miss it 
too, and then its illness has been so shocking. It had 
such cramps, and held out its little black hands (which 
are shaped exactly like ours) to be rubbed, and cried 
just like a child. That is the worst of a nice pet. 
However, they are a great amusement for the time 
they last, and there is, on an average, at least a year's 
pleasure for a week's grief. A natural death, too, is 
an uncommon termination to the life of a pet, and Dr. 
D. did everything that could be done for it. 

Moothea, Jan. 9. 

We left the Sutlej on Monday, and are halting to- 
day. Our dear friend Mr. C, of Umballa, laid out 
such a long march for us yesterday, that all the cattle 
are knocked up. We rode about twice the distance 
we intended to have done, which was no joke. Luckily 
he had his doubts about the villany of the proceeding, 
and had provided provisions for two days, so that we 
were able to stop a day. This is a shocking country 
for robberies. It belongs to nobody in particular, and 
the inhabitants avowedly live by plunder. Last night 
they took two pittarrahs belonging to one of the clerks, 
and beat the sepoy who was guarding them dreadfully. 
They also robbed and beat a camel suwar who was 
bringing us letters from Ferozepore. 

Thursday, Jan. 10. 

We had another very long march, and found on 
arriving at the advanced camp that there had been 
another robbery. Some of Mr. 's boxes were 



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taken, and some belonging to an officer, whose kit- 
mutgar was cut by a sabre across the chest. The poor 
sepoy is dead, who was so beaten. The servants are in 
a shocking state of fright, though it is a little their own 
fault if they are robbed. At two in the afternoon, one 
set of them go on with all the stores, wine, grain, 
&c, and a strong guard ; and we have settled to 
send our precious imperials, camel trunks, &c, 
by day-light. At nine in the evening, all the plate, 
dinner things, furniture, a great many tents, and the 
servants that will be wanted in the morning, go with 
an escort. If they stray away they are instantly 
robbed. All the rest come in the morning with us, 
when there are four regiments on the road, so that is 

quite safe. To-night Colonel ■ is going to send 

the fourth cavalry to patrol the road. These little 
warlike precautions are becoming interesting. 

Moothee, Friday, Jan. 11. 

Worse and worse. When we came up to the advanced 
camp, the servants declared there had been an engage- 
ment. I think we are doing more business than ever 
the army will do in Cabul. Our great battle of Moot- 
heesund was fought in the night, which makes it curious 
as a matter of history. Four sepoys were guarding a 
train of pittarrahs. The inhabitants of the village (as 
was perhaps to be expected) wished to appropriate 
their contents. A hundred men attacked the four 
sepoys ; the sepoys naturally screamed ; the cavalry 
came up ; the hundred men ran away ; cavalry, sepoys, 
and pittarrah bearers all joined in the pursuit ; the 
thieves ran home, and, I suppose, went to bed ; and 
our forces brought off the jemadar of the village, who 



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241 



says he had nothing to do with it, and he wishes they 
would let him go again. 

Budhoo, Saturday, Jan. 12. 

We had a nice short march this morning, just ten 
miles. I am quite able to ride again now, which 
lessens the fatigue materially ; and I believe it is now 
universally allowed that my horse is entirely faultless. 
Of course it cannot be so in fact, but it has every 
appearance of it at present. It is beautiful, and it 
does not kick nor bite, which all the others do, nor 
stumble as most Arabs do, nor pull, nor dawdle. I 
am so obliged to it. I hate a vicious horse, don't you ? 
and you cannot guess how troublesome they are in 
this country. 

Tuesday, Jan. 15. 

This morning we went half-way in the carriage and 
then got on elephants, to meet the Rajah of Putteealah, 
whose territories we enter to-day. His son came last night 
to meet Gr. He is a fine-looking boy, about eighteen. Mr. 
E. says that the usual custom among the Jbikhs is, that 
once grown up, a boy ceases to be a son, or a brother — 
that he becomes an individual, bound only to take care 
of himself; but the Putteealah rajah has broken 
through this system, and has kept his son in his own 
palace, under his own control. Last night was the 
first time he had ever slept from under his father's 
roof. He had a grey-bearded tutor, who never left his 
side, and an immense suite. Mr. E. says father and 
son are on excellent terms. The rajah's procession 
was beautiful; not so large as some of Runjeet's, but 
more regularly handsome, as all his followers were 



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equally well dressed, and their riding was very striking. 
Runjeet's men cannot ride at all, Some of the men 
we saw this morning put their horses into a gallop and 
then stood up on their saddles, stooping down to the 
light and left to cut away the weeds with their swords, 
very much what people do at Astley's, only there the 
horses go round in a circle, which makes it more easy. 
Here, there is not even a made road. Another man 
would ride up and fire oft his matchlock at a friend 
and then throw himself on the side of his horse, hang- 
ing only by one stirrup, till his pursuer had returned 
the fire, and then he would rise up again and stop his 
horse with the greatest ease. Two little dwarfs rode 
before the rajah. We had them here this afternoon 
to draw, and gave them two shawls, which pleased him 
much. He knows the rules about presents in the 
Company's service, and when he and Mr. E. were 
coming to the durbar in the evening, he saw these 
dwarfs strutting- along; with their shawls on. He asked 
where they got them from ; they said the Lady Sahib 
gave them: upon which the raj ah turned round to his Sikh 
and asked, ' May they keep them ? ' and then laughed 
with Mr. E. at his knowing exactly what the English 
would say. This evening the Bombay extra arrived 
with news to the 27th of October ; all good news. 

Wednesday, Jan. 16. 

Besides the overland letters, this has been a great 
day of idle business for Cr. and his staff. E. and I left 
the camp at the usual time, and a bitter nasty day it 
was ; a regular thick Indian fog. We rode most part 
of the way with Captain X. and ( Frump,' Esq., 



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2-10 



as we always call him, not but what he is rather a 
pleasant man, but he frumps things in general, and 
wears a rough coat and stern-looking gloves, and never 
can see the fun of anything, and his name begins with 
an F., so I think it very likely he was christened 
' Frump.' He was remarkably frumpish with the fog, 
which almost blinded us till the sun rose. The un- 
happy G. remained with his staff to breakfast at seven, 
and then set off in full-dress to return Putteealah's 
visit. He gave them magnificent presents ; amongst 
others, a horse with a gold howdah, and caparisoned 
like an elephant, and it sticks out its leg for the rider 
to mount by just as an elephant does. The little 
howdah would make Chance's establishment quite com- 
plete, but the idea of presenting it to him has not yet 
crossed C.'s mind apparently. From that durbar they 
came on to the camp, and were met by the old Rajah 
of Nabun, a Sikh chief, and a fine-looking old creature, 
and he brought G. home. Then they dressed, and at 
two had to full-dress again for a durbar to this old 
creature, and he asked G. to bring us in the evening 
to see his garden, so the gentlemen had to put on their 
uniforms a third thne. Towards dusk, young Xabun 
(Nabun junior) came to fetch us, and we all scuttled 
along on elephants to a very ugly dilapidated garden, lit 
up in an elaborate manner, where the old man met 
us, but could hardly walk from age. A. and Mr. C. 
kept charging G. on no account to sit down, as the 
rajah was not of sufficient rank to receive a visit from 
the Governor-General, and G. kept declaring that he 
knew he should sit down at last, so he misdit as well do 
it at once. However, they would not hear of it, but 

K 2 



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kept walking him about; and the old man went up 
into a garden house to rest, while the son did the 
honours. Then Or. would go up to this house, and 
then up the steps, A. and C. objurgating him all the 
while ; then the cunning old Nabun asked him to look 
at the paintings in the room. A. and C. grew des- 
perate, and said the pictures were very improper. 
G. declared they were very pretty ; and so we all went 
in and found a whole row of chairs, and a select assort- 
ment of nautch girls. Gr. sank down on one side of 
the rajah and told me to sit on the other, and so ended 
the advice of A. and G., and Nabun now thinks himself 
as good as Putteealah. That is the great result of this 
great measure, and C.'s hurt feelings were soothed by 
a pair of diamond bracelets that the old man gave me, 
and which I delivered to him. A large display of fire- 
works took place, and we came home in the dark. 

Thursday, Jan. 17. 

A rainy miserable sort of day, but not bad enough 
to prevent the tents from moving. We had several of 
the camp to dinner. St. Cloup is longing for our 
arrival at Kurnaul, that he may vary his cookery a 
little. We cannot kill a cow in the face of all these 
Sikhs, and at Simla the natives do not like it ; so it is 
a long time since we have had the luxury of a beef- 
steak or a veal cutlet. 



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245 



CHAPTEE XXXII. 

Soonair, Friday, Jan. 18, 1839. 

We halt here till Monday. There is a great gathering 
of petty chiefs, and our arrival was very pretty. Each 
man came on his elephant, with a few wild followers on 
horseback, some with a second elephant, and they all 
scramble up to Gr., every individual giving him a bow 
and arrows, or a matchlock. His hand was soon full, 
then his howdah was hung with them ; the hirkaru 
behind was buried in bows ; then they boiled over into 
our howdahs, and at every break in the road a fresh 
chief and more bows appeared. 

At last we came to Mr. E., bringing the Nahun 
rajah. Don't you in your ignorance go and confound 
him with the old Nabun rajah. This is the Nahun 
chief whom we visited last year in the hills, and who is 
very gentlemanlike and civilised. I have found out 
why I was so glad to see him again. He has light 
blue eyes, and after three years of those enormous 
black beads the natives habitually see with, these were 
mild and refreshing. They all brought us to the camp 
in a drizzling rain, which came on to a pour in the course 
of the day, and a wretched business it always is. All 
the servants and camp followers look so miserable and 
catch such bad colds. I thought when we were at 
Nabun that an old man, a sort of prime minister of the 
rajah's, would make a good drawing, and I told him 
so ; and to-day he arrived, having made two marches 
to have the picture drawn. He gave me his matchlock, 



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which I asked Captain D. to return with the usual 
speech, that it was much better in his hands than in 
mine ; hut the old man said no ; it was a particularly 
good matchlock; he had shot with it very often, and I 
should not easily find so good a one, so C. gave me a 
watch to present to him in exchange, which quite de- 
lighted him. While Captain L. E. was gone to fetch 
the watch, the old man took the opportunity to ques- 
tion my jemadar about our habits, and I understood 
enough of the language to make out that he was asking 

© C © © 

how many times we eat in the day. The natives 
generally only eat once, but I believe they think our 
way of eating at several different times rather grand ; 
at all events, the jemadar did not omit a spoonful, and 
it was rather shocking to hear how many times in the 
day we were fed, beginning with the cup of coffee 
before marching ; and the afternoon cup of tea sounded 
wrong and icatte-not-want-not-ish. However, the old 
sirdar said it was all e wah wah ' — excellent, to be able 
to eat so much. 

Saturday, Jan. 19. 

There was rather a pretty durbar this morning — 
two hundred of those Sikh chiefs who gave our great 
Apollo his bows yesterday ; and as they were only 
shown in by fives and sixes, it made a very long dur- 
bar, and we went over to make a sketch of it. I never 
can make a likeness of Gr. to my mind, and yet there 
is always a look of your M. in my drawings of him, so 
there must be a likeness somehow, either in the 
sketches or in G. and M. That gentlemanlike Xahun 
rajah made Mr. A. bring him all across the tent to 
shake hands with F. and me, all owing to his blue 



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247 



eyes. Nobody with black eyes would have dreamed 
of so European an idea. Gr. went out shooting this 
afternoon. There are heaps of partridges and quails 
in this part of the country. 

I thought of going out too, with my matchlock, only 
C. has claimed it for the Company. We had a large 
dinner to-day, forty-five ; all the officers of the cavalry 
and artillery who leave us on Monday. One or two 
of them got particularly drunk. They say some of 
them are always so, more or less, but it happened to 
be more this evening. 

Sunday, Jan. 20. 

Mr. Y. set off after church to go back to Simla for 
his wife's accouchement. He will go scrambling up to 
Simla in a shorter time than the post goes. He bor- 
rows a horse here, and rides a camel there, and the 
Putteealah rajah is to lend him a palanquin ; and he 
set off with some cold dinner in one hand and ' Cul- 
pepper's Midwifery ' in the other, which he borrowed 
of Dr. D. at the last minute. He is very pleasant and 
amusing ; more like R. than ever. 

Such a pleasure ! a letter from the agent at Calcutta 
to say a box of millinery has arrived at the Custom 
House per ' Robert Small.' Mine, to a certainty ! It 
has been rather more than seven months making its 
voyage, and will be three more coming to the hills. 
I think it is about the last great invoice for which I 
shall trouble you. Calcutta may provide itself for the 
last few months; and my next order will be for a 
pelisse and bonnet, &c, at Portsmouth. Good! 



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Monday, Jan. 21. 

Rather a long march ; and that generally brings a 
large riding party together at the end ; and once more 
W. and I had one of our hysterical fits of laughter at 
the extraordinary folly of a march. We feel so certain 
that people who live in houses, and get up by a fire 
at a reasonable hour and then go quietly to break- 
fast, would think us raying mad, if they saw nine 
Europeans of steady age and respectable habits, going 
galloping every morning at sunrise oyer a sandy plain, 
followed by quantities of black horsemen, and then by 
ten miles of beasts of burden carrying things which, 
after all, will not make the nine madmen eyen decently 
comfortable. We haye discovered that a mad doctor 
is coming out here, and we think it must be a delicate 
attention of yours ; but when he sees us ride into Rag 
Fair every morning, for no other reason than that we 
have left another Rag Fair ten miles behind, I am 
sure he will say he can do us no good. It is very kind 
of you to have sent him, but we are incurable, thank 
vou. and as long as we are left at large we shall 2:0 
about in this odd way. There is your missing Sep- 
tember letter, with T.'s and E.'s dear Journals. It 
went to Calcutta, and came with the October packet. 
Xewsalls sounds very delightful, and I mean to live 
there constantly, and to see a great many cricket 
matches. How very disagreeable that Sister should 
look so young. I look much older now than she did 
when we came away, so we shall never know which of 
us ought to respect the other. 



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249 



Tuesday, Jan. 22. 

We are more mad than ever ! — at least we have got 
ourselves into one of those scrapes that mad people do. 
There is a wretched little rivulet, a thing not so big as 
that ditch by old Holledge's, at Elmer's End, which 
we were to have crossed this morning. This little 
creek, which is quite dry ten months of the year, and 
at the best of times is only called the Gugga, suddenly 
chose to rise in the night, and there is now seven feet 
of water in it, which puts crossing out of the question. 
There is only one boat, and a helpless magistrate on 
the other side. 

The cavalry and artillery who left us yesterday will 
of course be stopped by the same river higher up, and 
Mr. C. has sent to carry off their one boat too ; and in 
the meantime we are at a dead lock. Luckily, there is 
very good shooting here. I could not imagine this morn- 
ing why Wright did not come to dress me after the 
bugles sounded, and I kept sending message after mes- 
sage to her, with a sort of wild idea that everybody 
would march, and I should be left lying in bed in the 
middle of this desert, with nothing to put on, and no 
glass to dress by ; a sort of utter destitution. 

The hirkaru who slept in the tent happened to speak 
no English, so I never understood a word of the long 
Hindustani speeches he kept screaming through the 
partitions, and at last Wright came, cold and sleepy. 
( Law, ma'am, did not you know the river was full, 
and we can't go ? and all the things have come back 
except the kitchen things, so I thought you would like 
a good sleep.' Luckily, the kitchen recrossed before 
breakfast time. 



250 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



Noodeean, Thursday, Jan. 24. 

That little ditch the Gugga is quite pompous with 
twenty feet of water, and it has been dry for three 
years, and was nearly so on Monday, so we are just a 
day too late. We moved eight miles nearer to it 
merely for the love of moving, and are now at Noo- 
deean — evidently a corruption of Noodleland, or the 
land to which we noodles should come. I want to 
leave the last camp standing, and to march back- 
wards and forwards between the two; it would be 
just as good as any other Indian tour. We came on 
elephants to this place, careering wildly over the 
country, that the gentlemen might shoot ; there never 
was anything like the tribes of quails and partridges, 
but it is very difficult to shoot them from an elephant. 
The hotty goes lumbering on, and it is just a chance 
whether the gun that is pointed at a hare on the 
ground, is not jerked up so as to kill a rock pigeon 
overhead. G. killed ten quails, which was more than 
anybody else did. Rajah Hindu Rao, who is now so 
habitually with us that we look upon him as a native 
aide-de-camp, took pains to miss, I think, that he 
might not seem to shoot better than G. 

In the afternoon G. went out on foot with Captain 
X. and shot an antelope, which is really a great feat. 
There is a Mr. ~N. 9 the magistrate to whom we right- 
fully belong to-day, and who ought to be wringing his 
hands constantly, and plying eternally between our 
camp and the river, a victim to remorse that he has 
not made a bridge of boats in time ; instead of which, 
N.'s tents are seen in the distance the other side of the 
water, and he never stirs from them, and all the notice 



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he lias taken of us is a message that perhaps he had 
better go back and prepare for us at Hansi, as there 
seems little chance of our crossing for a week. We 
tell Mr. C. that if he had been N. this never 
would have happened. He has got two boats from 
those unhappy regiments up the river, and moreover 
he has succeeded to-day in recovering great part of 
Mrs. B.'s stolen property, her bracelets and some of 
her gowns, which have been buried in some Sikh vil- 
lage, and I fancy are not the better for the operation. 
The thieves have been sent up to Runjeet, and his 
justice is rather severe, I am afraid. 

C. set off yesterday with all his clerks and establish- 
ment, and writes word that by making the villagers 
work all night, he has passed them all, except the 
camels, who detest water and will not swim. X. and 
A. went off this afternoon to pass our goods, and W. 
went in the evening. 

Friday, Jan. 25. 

We marched this morning, that is, we rode five miles 
to this wicked little Gugga, which is not forty yards 
wide, and yet gives us all this trouble. Captain S. 
overtook us half-way, and said that he had been de- 
tained by finding Wright and Jones at the last camp 
left without any conveyance. Their elephant, by some 
mistake, had been sent on to the ghaut, and all the 
usual spare resources had been sent away last night, 
so he found them walking. He sent them his 
elephant as soon as he could overtake it, but they had 
walked two miles, much to the wonder of the natives. 

I never saw such a scene as the ghaut — such a con- 
glomeration of carts, sepoys, bullocks, trunks, &c, and 



252 



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600 camels, who would not go any way. About 200 
had been coaxed over. F. and I went down there 
after luncheon, and sat on the shore to see the fun. 
W. 3 X., P., and L. E. had each taken the command of 
one of the boats ; and with one European the natives 
work very well. They each had on their broad white 
feather hats to keep off the sun, and a long stick to 
keep the people from crowding into the boats, and 
looked like pictures of slave-drivers, and were scream- 
ing and gesticulating, and hauling packages in and out. 
The only way of passing the camels was by tying six 
of them in a string to the tail of an elephant, who then 
swam across, dragging them all after him. They did 
so hate it ! I suppose it must be much the same as we 
should feel if we were dragged through a bed of hot 
sand, which is what the camels really love. The water 
was like a deep canal ; nothing was to be seen of the 
elephant but his trunk, and the mahout standing on 
his back holding on like grim death by the elephant's 
ears. The hackeries were pushed into the water, some 
of them very high covered carts, but they disappeared 
instantly, and were dragged under the water ; then if 
they stuck anywhere, a dear, good elephant would go 
in and rake about and push them along with his great 
hard .head. A little further up, there might be seen a 
troop of bullocks refusing to take the water, and at 
last driven in, and their owners swimming behind and 
holding on by their tails. This has been going on 
ever since Tuesday morning. Captain P. and his 
sergeant have not had their clothes off for three days, 
and look thoroughly exhausted. The tent pitchers 
have also been at work in the water for three days. 



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253 



"What I hate most in a camp is the amount of human 
and brute suffering it induces ; luckily, there were no 
lives lost this time ; an elephant picked up one little 
boy who was drowning. Webb's tame bear was nearly 
lost, and when he got into the boat, he turned round 
to X. and said, ' I hope, sir, Miss Eden seed me a 
saving of my bear; it would make such a pretty skitchS 
The villain N. met us at the ghaut, and came to visit 
us in the morning — not the least ashamed of himself — 
but he is by no means an unpolished jungle-man : rather 
the contrary, jolly and pleasant, only that he has nearly 
forgotten his English. He laughs like that Dr. Gr. we 
used to know, and says with a great i Ho ! ho ! ho ! 
' If it had not been an inconvenience on account of 
Supplies, it is just as well you should have been stopped 
in this way. You ought to see the hard-ships of a 
camp life.' I wonder what the ships of a camp life are 
which are not hardships ? 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Saturday, Jan. 26, 1839. 

We made our march this morning, but found all the 
people who had been obliged to come on last night 
so knocked up that I have persuaded Gr. to give up 
his intention of marching to-morrow. We seldom 
have marched on Sunday, and this is a bad time to 
begin. In short, it was nearly impossible. The ser- 
geant who lays out the advanced camp is in bed with 
fever from fatigue. 



254 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



Wednesday, Jan. 30. 

It is four days since I have been able to write. I 
was f took so shocking bad ' with fever on Sunday, 
caught, it is supposed, at that river-side — that eternal 
Gugga. Captain L. E. was seized just in the same 
way, and several of the servants, so we all say we 
caught it there ; but it is all nonsense — every inch of 
the plains in India has its fever in it, only there is not 
time to catch them all. I think the Gugga fever is 
remarkably unpleasant, and I did not know that one 
head and one set of bones could hold so much pain as 
mine did for forty-eight hours. But one ought to be 
allowed a change of bones in India : it ought to be 
part of the outfit. I hope it is over to-night ; but as 
things are, I and L. E., with Captain C. and the 
doctor, are going straight to Hansi to-morrow — only 
a short march of ten miles, thereby saving ourselves 
two long marches of sixteen miles, which G. makes to 
Hissar, and giving ourselves a halt of three days to 
repair our shattered constitutions. 

It is so absurd to hear people talk of their fevers. 
Mr. M. was to have joined us a month ago, but unfor- 
tunately caught ' the Delhi fever ' coming up : he is to 
be at Hansi. Z. caught ' the Agra fever' coming up; 
hopes to be able to join us at Hansi, but is doubtful. 
Then N., our Hansi magistrate, looks with horror at 
Hansi : he has suffered and still suffers so much from 
i that dreadful Hansi fever,' I myself think ( the 
Gu£o;a fever ' a more awful visitation, but that is all 
a matter of opinion. Anyhow, if N. wished us to 
know real hardship, fever in camp is about the most 
compendious definition of intense misery I know. We 



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255 



march early each morning ; so after a racking night — 
and I really can't impress upon you the pain in my 
Indian bones — it was necessary at half-past five — just 
when one might by good luck have fallen asleep — to 
get up by candle-light and put on bonnet and cloak 

and one's things in short, to drive over no road. 

I went one morning in the palanquin, but that was so 
slow, the carriage was the least evil of the two. Then 
on arriving, shivering all over, we were obliged to 
wait two hours till the beds appeared ; and from that 
time till ten at night, I observed by my watch that 
there was not one minute in which they were not 
knocking tent-pins, they said into the ground, but by 
mistake they all went into my head — I am sure of it, 
and am convinced that I wear a large and full wig of 
tent-pins. Dr. D. put leeches on me last night, and I 
am much better to-day. L. E. is of course ditto : the 
Gugga fevers are all alike. 

Hansi, Friday, Feb. 1. 

I went to sleep at last last night, and am much 
better to-day ; but I see what N. means about Hansi. 
Such a place ! — not, poor thing ! but that it may be a 
charming residence in fine weather ; but we have had 
such a wet day. It began to pour in the night. I am 
very glad I resisted G.'s offer of giving me half the 
horses and the shut carriage, for I suspect even with all 
the horses they will have had some difficulty in making 
out their long march. Such a road as ours was ! — 
nearly under water. I started in my palanquin, but 
after the first three miles the bearers could hardly get 
on at all : they stuck and they slipped, and they 



256 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



helped each other into holes and handed each other 
out again, but altogether we did not get on. Captain 
P. was to have driven me the last half of the way in 
his buggy ; and as his elephant was like my bearers — ■ 
slipping and sticking — we sent on one of the guards 
for the buggy, and contrived to get on very well in 
that. 'When we came to what is nominally called c the 
ground,' it looked like a very fine lake, in which my 
tent and the durbar tent and Dr. D.'s were all that 
were not standing in the water. P. and the jemadar 
carried me in a chair into mine, and there I was left 
alone in my glory. He and L. E. took the durbar 
tent, their own tents having a foot of water in 
them. 

Captain D. went to live with his brother, who has a 
bungalow here, which he very kindly offered me. It 
is pouring so again to-night that I wish I had taken 
it; but then if I had carried off the cook and the 
dining-tables and the lamps, &c, I thought the aides- 
de-camp would be wretched, and L. E. is not well 
enough to go out ; but to be sure, these tents ! If it 
were not for the real misery to so many people, the 
incidents of the day would have been rather amusing. 
There is not of course a tent for the servants, so they 
are living in the khenauts (the space between the 
outer covering and the lining of our three tents), and 
there are thirty sleeping in my outer room, if room it 
may be called. The difficulties went on increasing. 
"WVs greyhounds, ten of them, were standing where 
his tent (now at Hissar) usually is, and the men said 
they would die, so we put them in the khenauts and 
told the dogs that they must not bark and the men 



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257 



that they must not cough, and hitherto they have been 
very quiet. My syce came to tell P. that my horse 
was not used to stand out all day in the rain, and that 
if it did Mr. Webb would kill him. I should assist at 
the execution, though how the poor syce could help it 
I don't quite see. I would have given Orelio my 
own blankets willingly and put him to bed with my 
own nightcap on, but unluckily the bed did not come 
till the afternoon, and was then a perfect sponge. 
However, we lodged the horse somehow. Then F. 
had two Barbary goats, which she had ordered on the 
lemur's death, thinking they were pretty, soft, hairy 
things, instead of which there arrived two days ago, 
large, smooth, bleak-looking English goats. However, 
she told me to take the greatest care of them when they 
came up. At twelve, a coolie without a stitch of 
clothes on, walked in with a Barbary kid on his back, 
stiff and stark. No interpreter at hand, so where the 
mother was remained a mystery. F. might have 
fancied to her dying hour that I had let her Barbary 
goats die — nobody ever thinks their children or pets 
are properly taken care of ; so I set off rubbing, and 
made my two boys, Soobratta and Ameer, rub the kid 
too, and we poured hot things down its throat. We 
should have been worth millions to the Humane 
Society, but the kid would not come to. Then I 
made them dig a hole in the outer tent and put char- 
coal in it, and when it was quite hot we took out the 
charcoal and put in the kid — just like singeing a pig ; 
but it was a bright idea, and quite cured it. Just as 
we had got the little brute on its legs, the mother was 
brought in, and we went through the same process 

s 



258 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



with her. When they were quite well, they were 
also sent to sleep in the khenauts. 

The bandsmen, who are chiefly Europeans, came to 
say they had no shelter. c Sleep in the khenauts,' was 
the only answer ; and we gave them what remained of 
our dinner, for the kitchen was under water. Mr. 

arrived, and I asked him to dinner too. It is 

fine to-day, and the tents came up in the middle of the 
night. We have got a paper of the 24th November, 
so the overland has arrived, and G. will bring us some 
letters to-morrow. 

Saturday, Feb. 2. 

And he has brought plenty — your's and E.'s Journals 
amongst others. 

Mahem, Tuesday, Feb. 5. 

I was taken with a worse attack of ague than ever 
as I was writing to you on Saturday, and was obliged 
to go to bed for two days. Luckily, it went off just 
before marching time yesterday morning, and I am 
taking narcotine at all convenient hours. I believe it 
is a remedy that has been invented in this country — at 
all events introduced — by Dr. O'Shaughnessy. Dr. D. 
has tried it in many cases, and it has never failed 
where the patients can bear it, but it makes many 
people quite giddy and delirious. I do not mind it at 
all, and am much better to-day. Two of our bearers, 
old servants, are dying of cholera from that last 
wetting. 



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259 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Wednesday, Feb. 6, 1839. 

Another rainy night, and we have come on to 
another sloppy encampment, and I am sorry to say 
those bearers, and two more, have died of cholera 
to*day — all owing to the wet, Dr. D. says. The 
magistrate here has politely offered us his house to- 
morrow, and as Captain P. sends back word he 
cannot find dry ground for half the dripping tents, 
U. Hall will be a God-send. 

Thursday, Feb. 7. 

Dear U. ! such a nice, dry, solid house. I suppose 
it would strike us as small on common occasions, but it 
looks to me now like the dryest, best built, most solid 
little palace I ever inhabited, what people call ( quite 
Palladian.' I rather like hitting myself a good hard 
knock against the thick solid walls, and then the 
pleasure of walking along the hard floor without fur 
slippers and without hearing the ground squelch I The 
quiet, too, is worth its weight in gold (though how it 
is to be weighed I don't quite know). 

F. and W. went out coursing this evening. Gr. was 
detained by letters just as he and I were going out, so 
I thought it would be polite and sent to ask U. to go 
out with X. and me ; and he brought me a little 
wooden cup of his own turning, with which I was 
obliged to be quite delighted, in fact I was ; it was a 
very good little cup, and then he said, ( I did it from 

s 2 



260 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



recollection of the famous vase in the Vatican. Does 
it remind you of Rome ? ' I could luckily say I had 
never been there, but I am not very sure that that 
little box-wood cup and the mud walls of XL's house 
would naturally have brought Rome into my mind. 

Sunday Evening, Feb. 10. 

We went into our tents again on Friday, with a 
long march of fifteen miles. The tents were still 
damp. By twelve o'clock I began to shiver, tried to 
go out in the afternoon and came back in a regular 
shake, had a horrid night, and after yesterday morn- 
ing's march was obliged to go to bed again with violent 
head -ache and fever. It has gone off this afternoon, 
and the day's halt has been a great mercy ; but Dr. D. 
says he does not think I shall get well in a camp, it 
disagrees so utterly with me. G. has ascertained there 
are four good rooms in the Residency at Delhi, which 
is never occupied now, so X. has gone on with my 
furniture and servants, and to-morrow I am going to 
drive straight on there; the camp will come to Delhi 
on Tuesday. I shall only be half a mile from them, 
but out of the noise and in a dry house. I have 
grown just like that shaking wife of i Jonathan Jeffer- 
son Whitlaws.' 

Monday, Feb. 11. 

I made out my double march most successfully with 
three relays of horses. X. rode out to the other camp 
to show me the way in ; he had had all the broken 
windows glazed, and Mrs. B. had sent curtains ; the 
rooms look very clean and nice. The house stands 
in a small shady park, with a nice garden, and the 



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261 



quiet is delightful. I went to sleep directly after 
breakfast, and am better, thank you. W. came on to 
Delhi to set all his shooting expedition going, and he 
dines here with X. and Dr. D., who are encamped in 
the court-yard, and they will drink tea with me. I 
often think of former days and of being ill at Bower 
Hall and at Langley, with you and L. taking all the 
trouble of it, and that it is done in a different method 
now — X. coming in when I am in my dressing-gown 
on the sofa, to ask about the numberless articles that 
a crowded camp necessitates, and saying, ( I have had 
relays of bearers for Rosina, because I should like her 
to be there with me, that she may show me how to 
arrange your rooms ; and is there any particular diet 
the khansamah should provide ? I shall send on the 
young khansamah, he says he knows what you like ; 
and when I am gone, Captain L. E. begs you will 
send to him, if you think of anything that will make 
you more comfortable.' 

It is very good of them, poor dears ! and I think I 
give them a great deal of trouble ; but then I never 
meant when I came into the world to be nursed by all 
these young gentlemen. It cannot be helped ; every- 
thing in India must be done by men. Giles is very 
useful on these occasions, and what people do without 
an English man-servant, I can't guess. 

Tuesday, Feb. 12. 

This must go. Such a volume ! it may as well go 
to the Admiralty. Gr. and F. arrived at the camp 
this morning, and F. is sitting here. They are only 
half a mile off, but Dr. D. has made up his mind that 



262 



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I shall not go near the camp till all parties and dinners 
are over, GL is going to drive me out this afternoon. 

Residency, Delhi, Monday, Feb. 18. 

I have been staying here a week to-day, with some 
degree of success, though I had a great deal of fever 
yesterday. F. went over yesterday with three or four 
of the sketching gentlemen to the Kootub, and comes 
back to-morrow. Dr. D. would not let me go when it 
came to the time, and indeed it was impossible, as it 
turned into a fever day, but I should have liked to 
see it again. I heard from F. to-day, and she says it 
is more beautiful than ever, and that they shall stay 
till to-moiTOw afternoon, for they have found such 
quantities of sketching to do. It is certainly the place 
in the plains I should like to live at. It has a feeling 
about it of i Is not this great Babylon?" all ruins and 
desolation, except a grand bit or two of magnificence 
kept up by the king. Then, in the modern way there 
are nice drives, and a considerable congregation of 
shawl merchants and jewellers. Our agate mania still 
continues, and there is no end to the curiosities that 
have been brought to light, or the price to which they 
have risen. They have been a great amusement, as I 
have not been able to sketch, and altogether this is 
rather a comfortable life for India. F. comes here 
for two hours in the morning. Captain X. and Dr. 
D. superintend breakfast and luncheon. At four, G. 
always comes, and we take a drive, and then, after six, 
I grow feverish and am glad to be quiet till bed-time : 
and there is a little undercurrent all the morning of 
W. 0. and Captain L. E., and agates and presents of 



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263 



flowers, &c. Major J. and Captain T. have come over 
to see us; indeed the whole plain is dotted with the 
tents of people who have eome to see G. ; he says he 
never had so many applicants before. 

Tuesday, Feb. 19. 

W, set off this morning on his tiger-shooting expe- 
dition. It has failed in some respects. General E. 
is ordered off to join Sir S. R. at Bombay, and G. 
cannot give leave to a Mr. H. here, who is a great 
tiger-hunter; but he has a chance of another friend, 
and our native ally, Hindu Rao, is going with him, or 
rather after him, for he says he cannot possibly leave 
Delhi till the Lord Sahib goes, and every afternoon 
Hindu. Rao comes to the door with the carriage, and 
trots by its side all the way, in his purple satin dress, 
and with his spear and shield. He says he knows 
G. likes him, and he also knows the reason — that he 
has nothing to ask for. He is very rich, and manages 
his money very well; and he likes G., because he 
says 6 he is real gentleman, as well as a Governor- 
General, and treats other people as if they were 
gentlemen too.' 

Such a tea-pot to-day ! — green serpentine, with a 
running pattern of small rubies set in it. Much too 
lovely ! 

F. came back this afternoon, rather tired, but says 
the ruins are all beautiful. 

Wednesday. 

I have had two Delhi miniature painters here, trans- 
lating two of my sketches into ivory, and I never saw 



264 



UP THE COUXTKY. 



anything so perfect as their copy of Runjeet Singh. 
Azhn, the best painter, is almost a genius ; except that 
he knows no perspective, so he can only copy. He is 
quite mad about some of my -sketches, and as all 
miniatures of well-known characters sell well, he has 
determined to get hold of my book. 

There is a fore-shortened elephant with the Put- 
teealah Rajah in the howdah, that particularly takes 
his fancy. However, I do not want them to be com- 
mon, so I cut out of the book those that I wish to have 
copied, and I never saw a native so nearly in a passion 
as he was, because he was not allowed the whole book. 
Their miniatures are so soft and beautiful. F. has 
had your likeness of my father copied. 

Camp, Thursday, Feb. 21. 

I was quite sorry to leave the Residency yesterday, 
all the more so, from my ague having been particularly 
severe last night ; it is very odd that nothing will cure 
it. However, we shall be at Simla in three weeks, and 
there was a good deal of rain again last night, which is 
against ague. 

Friday. 

TTe had such a frightful thunder-storm last night 
for three hours, with rain that might have drowned us 
all ; I never heard such a clatter. Our tents stood it 
very well, but a great many tents were beat down, and 
all the servants' tents were full of water. Luckily, 
this advanced camp escaped great part of the storm, 
and the tents are much drier than those we left. This 
is not good weather for ague ; it goes lingering on, and 
they say will do so, till I get to the hills. I keep 



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265 



very quiet, *but I shall be glacl to be settled at Simla. 
You know I never could quite understand the Psalms, 
but I see what David means when he says, i Woe is 
me that I am constrained to dwell with Mesech, and 
to have my habitation in the tents of Kedar.' Mesech 
I think he was wrong about. I should have no objec- 
tion to dwell with him in a good house of his own, but 
the tents of Kedar are decidedly very objectionable 
and 6 woe-is-me-ish ; ' double-poled tents, I have no 
doubt, and lined with buff and green. 

Sunday, Feb. 24. 

The idea of the December mail arriving this morn- 
ing ! letters of the 26th, less than two months old. 

6 Oliver Twist ' we have read, doled out in monthly 
parts nearly to the end, and I like it very much — but 
6 Nicholas Mckieby ' still better. We have left off there, 
at Miss Petowker's marriage, and Mrs. Crummies' 
walking tragically up the aisle ( with a step and a stop,' 
and the infant covered with flowers. There never was 
such a man as Dickens ! I often think of proposing a 
public subscription for him — i A tribute from India ' — 
and everybody would subscribe. He is the agent for 
Europe fun, and they do not grow much in this 
country. 

Paniput, Tuesday. 

We are progressing every day, but this is the same 
road we passed over last year, so if there had been 
anything to say about it, you would not wish me to 

say it twice over. Mr. is with us, remarkably 

dull ; but since I have got him to tell me anecdotes of 
the Delhi royal family shut up in their high walls, and 



266 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



of all the murders he has known, or suspected, I think 
the time passes pleasantly, and he goes away early. 

I am much better, and began dining down again 
yesterday, and the weather has changed, which they 
say is to blow away all fevers ; but Dr. D. says the 
hospital is quite full, and the deaths amongst the ser- 
vants this year have been quite lamentable. 

G-ornadar, "Wednesday, Feb. 27- 

L. E. and Z. nearly had a tiff to-day. L. E. has 
taken charge of the stables since Captain M. went 
away, and as there are sometimes from sixty to a 
hundred horses there, while presents are going on from 
native princes on the march, besides all our own 
horses, it is like a little regiment occasionally, and L. 
E. is very gentle and quiet in his manner to the syces 
and with Webb. 

Captain Z. came into my tent this morning and 
flung himself into my arm-chair — Mr. D.'s chair, that 
sacred piece of furniture. I thought it an odd measure, 
but could not help it, and he began : ' I was just going 
to say — what a delicious chair this is ! such a spring ! — 
I was just going to say that I have been talking to 
Webb about your open carriage. I understand you 
want it up here. I think of sending it to Dehra, for, 
as I told Webb, the oxen can bring it back from Barr,' 
&c. I looked rather frosty, and said I would think 
about it and let him know, and put it off ; and then he 
launched out about Paul de Cocq's novels, still seated 
on that much-loved chair — f my goods, my property, 
my household stuff.' As soon as he was gone, I got 
hold of X., who said he too had been surprised, but 



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thought that perhaps Captain L. E., who is acting for 
W. in his absence, might have found he had too much 
to do, and so had made over the stables to !£. 

Then L. E. arrived, saying he really had been quite 
annoyed, happened to be particularly fond of horses, 
had not a bit too much to do, had found Captain Z. 
the other day giving orders about the relays for the 
march, and had therefore taken the liberty of calling 
the four native coachmen together and desiring them 
never to take orders from anybody but himself. If 
Lord A. had chosen to ride that morning there would 
not have been a riding horse on the line of march ; but 
of course if I had told Captain Z. to take charge of the 
stables, he would give it up, &c. I said I never told 
anybody anything, and so I suppose they will settle 
it between them. 



CHAPTER XXXY. 

Kurnaul, Thursday, Feb. 28, 1839. 

We came in this morning with the usual fuss of a 
cantonment. I always dread coming back to the two 
or three regiments we have met before, because they 
are all so excessively astonished we do not know them 
all again. That would not be possible, but at the 
same time I feel that it is very stupid I should never 
know one. This time there is a hope — I always know 
Colonel S., because he has only one arm ; and two of 
the other regiments went with us to the Punjab, so we 
have not had time quite to forget them. L. E. and 



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Z. have evidently 'had it out/ and L. E. has con- 
quered. He was quite as firm as his natural gentle- 
ness would allow, at luncheon-time, about all his 
arrangements. He had heard of a new horse that 
would be worth looking at. He had sold a pony, 
found a coachmaker, chosen a lining, rather thought 
we must have a new open carriage, had made arrange- 
ments for leaving here my elephant, which has got a 
rheumatic fever and can't move any one of its poor 
dear lumps of legs without screaming. 

In short, Z. was defeated with great loss. This 
place looks quite as ugly as it did last year ; all 
barracks and plain, and not a tree in sight. I cannot 
think how people bear their cantonment life so well as 
they do. 

TFe have been setting ourselves up with mourning 

here, for poor , and collected all the black goods in 

the place, consisting of four pans of black gloves, with 
a finger or so missing, and a pair of black earrings, 
which I thought a great catch ; and so they were, in 
fact — I was caught quite out. They had evidently 
been made for the Indian market, and had only mock 
hinges and clasps. Nobody could wear them; but 
they are nice earrings if there were any way into them. 

Friday. 

We had an immense party last night. There are 
between sixty and seventy ladies living here — most of 
them deserted by their husbands, who are gone to 
Cabul; and they generally shut themselves up, but 
last night they all agreed to come out. There were 
some very pretty people among them; that little 



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269 



woman who marched with us last year, and whom we 
called ( the little corpse,' came out again more corpse- 
like than ever. The aides-de-camp had been agreeing 
in the morning to draw lots which of them should 
dance with her, but afterwards settled it was the 
business of the junior aide-de-camp ; so they introduced 
Captain Z. to her, and he is in such a rage this 
morning. 

I am sorry to say we heard of an accident to W. 0. 
to-day. We hope it may turn out very slight, but 
it is alarming to tliink what it might have been. 
He and the K.s had just arrived at MazufFernuggur, 
and he was driving their carriage, when a sudden jolt 
threw him first on the horses and then under the 
wheel, which went over him just above the left hip. 
No bone was touched, and there was evidently no 
internal injury, and General K. said he had had as yet 
no fever, but of course he must be laid up for a time, 
and probably will have to give up his shooting party, 
which will be a sad blow, after having taken so much 
trouble to organise it. 

It must have been a frightful accident to see. 
e Mon Dieu ! ce que c'est que de nous,' as that old 
housekeeper at the Chateau de Bilkere used to say in 
her odd patois. An inch more or less might have been 
fatal to dear W. 

Saturday, March 2. 

W. has had a good deal of fever in the night, but 
wonderfully little pain. The shooting party is, however, 
quite out of the question ; and as the K.s must be 
longing to go on with their expedition, we all thought 
it better that F. should go to take care of W. It is 



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about forty-five miles from here, and it takes about 
twenty-four hours to lay a dak for that short distance, 
and then you only average about three miles an hour. 
One longs for a chaise and four and an inn under these 
circumstances. A railroad we cannot even understand 
with our limited locomotive capacities. F. has sent off 
her tents and baggage, and will go to-morrow with 
Jones and P. to take care of them. I think poor W. 
must want some of his own family. G. and F. went 
to the Station ball last night. F. says there never was 
anything so amusing as the speeches. A long one 
about G., and another about F. and me — what we had 
done for society — added to its gaiety, and raised its 
tone, &c. &c. I should have thought it was all the 
other way — that society had lessened our gaiety, and 
lowered our tone ; but who knows ? there is a change 
somewhere, it appears. 

Sunday, March 3. 

A very good account of W. this morning ; he writes 
a few lines himself : the next thing will be that he will 
go out shooting, so it is lucky F. will be there to stop 
him. G. had another great dinner yesterday, and then 
we went to a play that the privates of the artillery had 
got up, supposing, or rather 'knowing that we were 
very fond of theatricals.' They acted very well last 
vear, but this was very much after the fashion of 
Bottom the TTeaver and Snug. 

I only stayed through half of it, but F. said the 
second farce was worse than the first. 

F. and P. set off at half-past three to-day. He 
drove her in his buggy the first sixteen miles, which 
will save her part of a long dak journey. She will 



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not have quite thirty miles of palanquin, and will ar- 
rive about seven to-morrow morning. 

Thanesir, Tuesday, March. 6. 

We left Kurnaul yesterday morning rather late (at 
least we call half-past six very late), for there was to 
be a great procession. All the colonels and various 
others insisted on riding half-way with Gr., so he can- 
tered along in the sun, looking very hot, and very 
much obliged to them, and casting longing looks at the 
open carriage at his side. All our aides-de-camp 
turned back to pass another day at Kurnaul from the 
half-way halt. Q. alone, guarded by his engagement 
to Miss U., was enabled to go on steadily to take care 
of the camp. I never saw anything so happy as the 
aides-de-camp were at Kurnaul; flirting with at least 
six young ladies at once, visiting and luncheoning all 
the morning ; then our band played on the course in 
the afternoon ; then there were dinners, balls, plays, 
&c, and they always contrived to get a late supper 
somewhere, so as to keep it up till four in the morn- 
ing. I dare say after four months of marching, during 
which time they have scarcely seen a lady, that it 
must be great fun to come back to the dancing and flir- 
tation, which is, as we all know, very considerable 
amusement at their age. I often think that with us 
their lives must be necessarily dull and formal. 
Colonel T. had asked them all to dinner and music, 
and they have all come back to-day r having had a 
charming evening. 

C. sung, and Mrs. C. sung, and there was a harp, 
and a bride, &c. I wish you could see Mrs. . 



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She is past fifty — some say near sixty — wears a light- 
coloured wig with very long curls floating down her 
back, and a gold wreath to keep it on, a low gown, 
and she dances every dance ; and her forward step, and 
side step, with an occasional Prince of Wales step, 
executed with the greatest precision, gave me senti- 
mental recollections of Jenkins, our dancing-master. 

He would have looked admiringly at Mrs. 's 

performances. 

P. got back this afternoon and brought a letter from 
F., who got over her journey very well. He says TV. 
is really quite well, though very weak ; but had begun 
smoking again, in defiance of the doctor. 

They are to begin their march to-morrow, K.s and 
all together; TV. in a palanquin. The K.s must have 
had a horrid fright ; the great jolt that threw him off, 
shook them so, that they did not think of looking at 
the coach-box, and only thought the horses were going 
very wildly. The syces stopped the horses, and then 
told them that TV. was lying in the road. They were 
luckily close to the tent. He spoke at first and then 
fainted ; but he seems to have suffered very little pain. 
I hope he will not go out shooting ; the heat is very 
great, and will increase every day. 

TVe are going to halt here to-morrow. It is a 
famous place for Hindu devotion, I believe the most 
sacred in India ; and all the Hindu sepoys of the 
escort were very anxious for a halt, and a religious 
icash in the tank. Gr. and I stopped on our way in, to 
see the tomb, which has that famous temple in its 
centre, and all our bearers and syces rushed down to 
the water with great ardour. The Hindu religion has 



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273 



two merits — this constant ablution, and the sacredness 
of their trees. This place is really pretty from the 
avenues of peepul trees. It is so long since we have 
seen a tree, that I am quite glad we are going to stay 
a day with them ; but our Mussulmaun followers 
will spoil them, they say. 

Wednesday, March 6. 

And so they have. Gr. and I went on the elephants 
yesterday evening to see the town with our dear Mr. 
C, who took us up again at Kurnaul, and J. and Mr. 
B. and various others. There was a great deal to see, 
and just as we were turning towards home, we heard a 
violent emeute, and several Brahmins came running 
after Mr. C. to say our camel drivers were cutting 
down the trees, close by their mosque. Mr. C. had in 
the morning sent sepoys with the camel drivers to 
prevent it, so he begged Gr. would go himself to see 
justice done. It was a wicked scene. About two 
hundred camel drivers working away, and three of the 
finest trees reduced to stumps, and about a thousand 
Brahmins tearing their hair and screaming, without 
daring to interfere. 

We all flew into violent rages. Gr. sent off Captain 
Z. with one party of the body-guard, and he captured 
ten camel drivers and sent them off to the camp. J. 
always throws out more legs and arms when he talks 
Hindustani than any other human being, and he 
looked like an enraged centipede, and finally jumped 
out of his howdah and began laying about him with 
one of the despoiled branches. Mr. C. preached with 

T 



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mucli unction to the Brahmins. Mr. B. looked 
vinegar at them, but was too Indianised to speak. 

The result was, that we took sixteen of the ring- 
leaders, made them leave all the branches they had 
cut — so that the poor camels will be starved — and 
marched home in great glory. 

Captain D. has levied a fine of a hundred rupees on 
the camel men, and paid it to the Brahmins, and as 
peepul trees grow again and rupees never do, the 
Brahmins are comforted. 

Thursday, March 7. 

We marched this morning only eight miles, which 
is pleasant ; and what is still more so is, that there is a 
dak bungalow close to our camp quite empty — not a 
traveller stirring — so I have my furniture put into it, 
and am comfortable. The heat of the tents the last 
three days has been dreadful, and when I went down 
to luncheon just now the thermometer was 91° in the 
largest and coolest tent. X. and P. had some plans 
to copy for G., and were so giddy they could not see. 
Q. had the headache. Z. was in bed with fever. The 
doctor was simply depressed to that degree he could 
not speak ; and even G. thought it would be as well, 
if this heat lasted, that Dr. D. should give him a black 
dose just to put by his bedside. Of course there was 
no necessity for taking it, but he felt a little odd, and 
it would be as well to have it at hand. J. came back 
from luncheon quite charmed with this little bungalow, 
which is as cool as an English hothouse at least, and 
looks on some beautiful cornfields, and e the browsing 
camel bells are tinkling ' rather prettily. 

I have not lived near the camels except at loading 



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275 



time, and had no idea they could be so quiet and 
merely tinkling. I have made such a nice little pur- 
chase to-day — two little girls of seven years old, rather 
ugly, and one of them dumb. I gave three pounds for 
the pair — dirt cheap ! as I think you will own. They 
are two little orphans. The natives constantly adopt 
orphans — either distant relations, or children that they 
buy — and generally they make no difference between 
them and their own children ; but these little wretches 
were very unlucky. They belonged to a very bad 
man, who was serving as a substitute for a sick servant 
whom we sent back to Calcutta. This man turned 
out ill and got drunk, upon which all the other Mus- 
sulmauns refused to associate with him, and he lost 
caste altogether. Giles was very anxious to get rid of 
him, as a drunken Mussulmaun is something so 
shocking we are all quite affected by it. On Monday 
he gave us an opportunity to leave him at Kurnaul. 
I had tried to get hold of these children at Simla, 
hearing they were very ill-used, and that this man was 
just going to take them down to Delhi to sell them into 
the palace, where thousands of children are swallowed 
up. Luckily, his creditors would not let him go, and 
I told A. to watch that he did not carry off the little 
girls ; so to-day he sent word I might have them if I 
would pay his debts, and the baboo has just walked in 
triumphantly with them. They have not a stitch of 
clothes on ; and one of them is rather an object, the 
man has beat them so dreadfully, and she seems stupi- 
fied. I hope to deposit them finally at Mrs. Wilson's 
orphanage near Calcutta. 

T 2 



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CHAP TEE XXXYI. 

Simla, Tuesday, March 19, 1839. 

Dox't you see, that now I am come back to Simla, a 
Journal will be out of the question; nothing to put 
into it. 

f Pillicock sits on Pillicock's hill, Halloo Loo ! Loo ! • 
(which I take to be a prophecy of our playing at Loo 
every evening.) We came up in two days from Barr, 
a very fatiguing business at all times, though Mrs. A. 
had sent me down a hill dhoolie, in which I could lie 
down, but it makes all one's bones ache to be jolted in 
a rough sedan for eight hours. The second day it 
poured till we came within sight of Simla, and with a 
sharp east wind from the mountains, the misery of all the 
dripping Bengalee servants was inconceivable. The 
gentlemen looked unhappy enough, as the hill ponies 
make slow work of the journey ; and Dr. D. had a 
violent fit of ague before we arrived at Hurripore. 
X. abjures the aide-de-camp on these hill excursions, 
and appears 6 en blouse a mixture of ( & brave Beige ' 
and a German student. 

We found Simla very white with snow ; the thermo- 
meter had been 91° in our tents that day week. But I 
do not think it at all uncomfortably cold here. Giles 
had preceded us by two days, and had got all the 
curtains up and the carpets down, and the house 
looked more comfortable than ever. It is a jewel of a 
little house, and my own room is quite overcoming ; so 
light and cheerful, and then all the little curiosities I 



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277 



have accumulated on my travels have a sweet effect 
now they are spread out. The only misfortune of my 
room is, that a long insect, much resembling a gudgeon 
on six legs, has eaten up your picture frame : the 
picture I took with me in my writing-desk, knowing 
that the gudgeon would have eaten that forthwith, but 
the frame, in an unguarded moment, I trusted to his 
honour, and this is the result. However, the glass he 
could not digest, and a wooden frame our own car- 
penter can make. 

F. left W. O. after his first day's tiger-shooting, 
and in marching up from Seharunpore with the K.s 
and Mrs. L., W. actually shot a tiger ten days after 
he had been run over, and he writes me word to-day 
that he is quite strong again, and that they had killed 
eight tigers in five days. One tiger got on an island 
about the size of the table, with a swamp all round it, 
that the elephants could not pass. The jungle was set 
on fire, and W. says it was beautiful to see him try to 
fight the fire with his paws, but when he found he 
could not conquer it, he charged the elephants, and 
was shot on the head of W.'s elephant. 

Saturday, March 23. 

We have had a little more snow and a great deal 
more rain, but now the weather is beautiful, and the 
servants are beginning to thaw and to move about. 
F. has had two dreadful days of rain in camp — a warn- 
ing to her, and she says she is beginning to give up 
her love of tents. Q. is gone down to Barr to fetch 
her up the hill, but she will not now be here till 
Monday, 



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We have not had a great many visitors. There are 
forty-six ladies and twelve gentlemen, independent of 
our party, and forty more ladies and six more gentle- 
men are expected shortly, so how any dancing is to be 
managed at our parties we cannot make out. The 
aides-de-camp are in despair about it; they are all 
dancers, and they have engaged a house for the Miss 
S.s and their aunt quite close to ours — 6 Stirling Castle,' 
a bleak place that nobody will live in, and that in 
general is struck by lightning once a year ; but then it 
is close by, and then they want a ball. They have got 
A. and all our married gentlemen to promise to dance 
every quadrille, but still we can't make out more than 
twelve couple, and it will be dull for the sixty who 
look on. They are writing to their friends in the 
plains, and asking eligible young officers to come up 
and lodge with them. E. N. has settled to come here 
instead of going to Mussooree, and had taken a house 
and was to board with us ; but Mr. J. has written to 
ask him to live with him — he must dance. ( At all 
events,' said X. as we were riding home, ' those two 
little windows in the gable end of Stirling Castle look 
well, and when two little female forms are leaning out 
of them, I can conceive nothing more interesting.' 
Our band twice a week is to be a great resource. Gr. 
bought W. O.'s old house, and has made it over to the 
aides-de-camp, which saves them some money, and in 
the grounds belonging to it we have discovered a 
beautiful little terrace for the band, and the others 
have persuaded P., who is 'laying out the grounds,' to 
arrange a few pretty paths for two, and also to make 
the gates so narrow that jonpauns cannot come through 



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279 



them, so that the ladies must be handed out and walk 
up to the music. 

Tuesday. 

F. arrived yesterday. W. O. writes word that he 
has just killed his thirteenth tiger. 

Saturday, March 30. 

This must go to-day, G. says. It is a shockingly 
thin concern, but it is not three weeks since the last 
went, and, as I tell you, a second Simla year journalised 
would inevitably throw you into a deep slumber. 

Simla, Wednesday, April 3, 1839. 

I feel rather cold and hungry without my J ournal. 
I have got such a habit of telling you everything, that 
somehow I cannot hinder myself from bestowing my 
tediousness upon you. I rather think I am like Mr. 
Balquwhidder, who found that the older he grew, and 
the more his memory failed, the more easy it was for 
him to preach a long sermon, only his congregation 
would not listen to it. You are my congregation. 
Our present set of gentlemen are so larking, I hope 
they will contrive to keep themselves and Simla alive 
this year. I think I told E. they had advertised a 
pigeon-shooting match for seven o'clock on the 1st of 
April, there not being a pigeon within twenty miles of 
this place. 

Mr. C. arrived at the place, which was a mile from 
any house, armed with two guns, in a regular shooting 
dress, and followed by three hirkarus to pick up the 
birds, and he was met by one of X.'s servants with a 
note, enquiring ( Does your mother know you're out ? ' 



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As he hates getting up before nine, he had some merit 
in taking it good-humouredly. 

There are several very pretty people here, but we 
can hardly make out any dinners. Most of the ladies 
send their regular excuse, that they do not dine out 
while Captain So-and-so is with the army. Yery 
devoted wives, but if the war lasts three years, they 
will be very dull women. It is wonderful how they 
contrive to get on together as well as they do. There 
are five ladies belonging to the regiment, all with 
families, who have now been living six months in one 
small house, with only one common sitting-room, and 
yet they declare they have not quarrelled. I can 
hardly credit it — can you ? 

Friday. 

The recoil from the plains to the dry, sharp air has 
a shocking effect on the household. Captain Z. has 
been very ill since Monday, Captain Q. knocked up 
with fever, Dr. D. ditto ; a very severe case. F.'s 
ayah tumbled down a hill, and cut her knee dread- 
fully. Rosina and her husband and ten more servants 
all ill with fever. Mars a bad headache ; Giles ditto. 
St. Cloup, a confirmed case of liver complaint. That 
puts us all in a great fuss ; the instant he complains 
we all think of our dinners, and are full of little 
attentions to him; we are now trying to hope that 
gout may come out, but the fact is, they have all 
knocked themselves up by fancying that, because they 
are in the hills, they may go out in the sun without an 
umbrella, and nobody ever can, with impunity. If 
Shakspeare ever said a wrong thing, it was that the 



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281 



sun i looks upon all alike.' It is anything but alike; 
lie looks uncommonly askance at you, and quite full at 
us. The band played on Wednesday in a new place 
we have made for it in our garden. Such a view of the 
snowy range ! and such a pretty spot altogether ! and 
all the retired ladies come to solace themselves with a 
little music, and to take a little tea and coffee and talk 
a little. 

W. O. has killed his seventeenth tiger. I had a letter 
from him to-day. They had been after a great man- 
eater , who has carried off seven or eight people lately, 
and the Thanadars of the villages around had begged 

o BO 

them to try and kill it. They took with them a Mr. 
P., an engineer they found making a bridge, who had 
never been out hunting before ; and lent him an ele- 
phant and two guns. The first day they saw the tiger 
at a great distance, and Mr. A. and W. took care not 
to fire for fear of losing his track, but they { presently 
heard a tremendous shouting, and bang, bang, with 
both guns. This was P. at least half a mile off, and 
on his coming up, he said he had seen the tiger in the 
distance, and it was " dreadfully exciting work." The 
next thing we heard of the tiger was upon my ele- 
phant's head, but he was shaken off directly, and after 
two or three charges, killed. About five minutes after 
he was dead, up comes Mr. P. in an awful state of 
excitement, with a small umbrella neatly folded up in 
his hands, and carried like a gun. " Am I too late ? 
Is he dead ? " " Yes, but where are your guns ? " 
" Good heavens ! I thought this was them. I must 
have thrown them away in my excitement and taken 
this instead." And so he had — and both A.'s and my 



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guns which we had lent him were found in the jungles, 
after some trouble.' 

Sunday, April 7. 

W. and Mr. A. have at last killed another dreadful 
tiger, or rather tigress, which they have hunted for and 
given up several times. She has carried off twenty- 
two men in six weeks, and while they were at the 
village, took away the brother of the chief man of the 
place ; took him out of his little native carriage, leaving 
the bullocks untouched. 

They found her lair, and W. says they saw a leg 
and quantities of human hair and bones lying about it, 
and they saw her two cubs, but the swamps prevented 
the elephants going near, and the mahouts would not 
go, so they gave it up. 

But the next day she carried away a boy, and the 
villagers implored them to try again. They came to 
the remains of the boy, and at last found the tigress, 
and brought her out by killing one of her cubs, and 
then shot her — but the horrid part of the story is that 
the screams of the boy who was carried off were heard 
for about an hour, and it is supposed she gave him to 
her cubs to play with. Such a terrible death ! Alto- 
gether, W. and Mr. A. (to say nothing of P. and his 
umbrella) have killed twenty-six tigers — twenty large 
ones, and six cubs — which is a great blessing for the 
country they are in. 



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283 



CHAPTEE XXXVII. 

Thursday, April 11, 1839. 

We had Mrs. A., Mrs. L., and Mrs. K. to dinner 
yesterday, as we find it the best way to dine the most 
companionable ladies en famille when we can furnish 
gentlemen enough of our own to hand them in to 
dinner. 

Gr. ought to dress himself as an abbot, and with his 
four attendant monks receive as many nuns as the 
table will hold : the dress would make all the dif- 
ference, and otherwise I do not see how society is to be 
carried on this year. 

Friday, April 12. 

I wish my box of gowns would ever arrive, don't 
you ? I believe now, if I see it when we go down 
from the hills this year I shall be lucky. Do you re- 
collect sending me a pink striped gown, a long time 
ago, by a Mr. R. ? I had it made up only lately, and 
put it on new last night : it was beautifully made, 
( and I never looked more truly lovely ! ' but there was 
an odd rent in the sleeve which, Wright said, must be 
the tailor's fault. I put on my sash and heard an odd 
crack under the arm; then Chance jumped into my lap, 
and there was an odd crack in front. I sat down 
to dinner, and there was another odd crack behind. 
In short, long before bed-time my dear gown was 
what Mrs. M. used to call £ all in jommetry ' — there was 
hardly a strip wider than a ribbon, rather a pretty 



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fashion, but perhaps too undefined and uncertain : that 
comes of being economical in dress. The next crown 
you send me shall be made up the afternoon it arrives, 
but you need not send any more till we come out to 
India next time. I really think this banishment is 
coming to an end. Xow we have broken into the last 
year but one, it seems like nothing. We have forsaken 
the buying of shawls and trinkets, and have gone into 
the upholstery and furniture line; everything is done 
with a view to Kensington Gore. I have just been 
writing to C. E. for a few Chinese articles — a cabinet, 
and a table or so, to arrive at Calcutta next year, and 
not to be unpacked. I have an, arm-chair and a book- 
case concocting at Singapore, and a sort of table with 
shelves of my own devising, that is being built at 
Bareilly? under the magistrate there. That, I think, 
may prove a failure, but I have a portfolio and ink- 
stand on the stocks that will be really good articles. I 
got some beautiful polished pebbles from Banda and 
Xerbudda. (I have not a notion where that is, but 
everybody here seems to know; I only know my 
pebbles were ordered eight months ago.) I thought 
they would have been small trashy things, but some 
of them are beautiful, like that great stone you had in 
a brooch, and I am having them set in silver, as a port- 
folio incrusted and enchased, and all that sort of thino;. 
It will make a shocking item in my month's expendi- 
ture, but then it will be an original device, and when 
I go home of course everybody will observe : ( An 
Indian portfolio, I see, Miss Eden,' and I shall carelessly 
answer, 6 Yes, those are the common Bazaar portfolios, 
but you can have very handsome ones made, if you like 



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to order them, and then, of course, everybody will 
write out for a common portfolio. 

Saturday. 

Nothing like a prophecy to ensure its not being ful- 
filled. Because I said that box would not come till 
next year, this very morning, after luncheon, a long 
file of coolies appeared ascending the hill, and the re- 
sult was twenty-five boxes of sorts— preserves and 
sweetmeats and sardines and sauces from France, a 
box of silks and books from ditto, More books from 
Bodwell, and though last, much the greatest, 6 in our 
dear love,' my two boxes of gowns and bonnets. 

Thank you again, dearest, for all the trouble you 
have taken, and very successful trouble it has been. 

Tell E., Wright of course thought her tapes, pins, 
&c, the most valuable part of the cargo, as I was 
living on a few borrowed pins, large and pointless. I 
suppose I shall wear the head-dress eventually, and 
one cap with long streamers looks very tolerably, but 
there is another with quantities of loose tags, in which 
I look exactly like Madge Wildfire. It may perhaps 
be subdued by pins and stitches; but if not, it suits F. 
remarkably well. 

Monday. 

I thought it due to you and to myself to wear some- 
thing new, so I put on that cap with the long tags for 
church yesterday morning, and Mrs. E. and Mrs. A. 
both found their devotions much interrupted thereby. 
We went to afternoon service at church in the Bazaar, 
to hear a new clergyman, who has come up for his 
health, and looks half dead, poor man. 



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Wednesday, April 17. 

We had our first dance last night, and it has been 
one of the gayest we have had here; only fourteen 
dancing men, but they never sat down, and they had 
quadrilles and English country-dances and waltzing, 
and altogether they all liked it, and beg to have another 
as scon as possible. 

It is rather touching to see our serious Q. dancing 
away as if his life depended on it ; and A. and C. and 
all the secretaries danced away too, and they were all 
amused at a small expense of trouble. Between the 
band and our dinners they are all becoming acquainted 
and good friends, which is lucky, for I think half the 
ailments in India come from the solitary lives people 
lead. 

Friday, April 19. 

W. 0. arrived yesterday morning ; he looks uncom- 
monly well, considering that he has ridden sixty miles 
since three in the morning, and it is very hot even in 
the hills. He and Mr. A. have killed thirty-six tigers, 
the largest number ever killed in this part of the 
country by two guns, and his expedition seems to have 
answered very well. 

I began Wilberforce's Life when our new books' 
came, but am disappointed. His journals are too short 
and terse, like heads of chapters ; however, there are 
some good bits here and there, and I like the man 
himself very much. ( The Woman of the World ' is a 
very amusing novel; evidently Airs. Gore's, though 
she writes so much that I suppose she does not put her 
name to all her works, but it is impossible to mistake 
them. i The Grlanville Family ' we got from Calcutta, 



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as you said so much of it, and we all thought it very 
amusing ; but ? in fact, { Boz ' is the only real reading 
in the amusing line — don't you think so ? 

Our aides-de-camp gave a small fete champetre yes- 
terday in a valley called Annandale. The party, 
consisting of six ladies and six gentlemen, began at 
ten in the morning, and actually lasted till half-past 
nine at night. Annandale is a thick grove of "fir-trees, 
which no sun can pierce. They had bows and arrows, 
a swing, battledore and shuttlecock, and a fiddle — the 
only fiddle in Simla; and they danced and eat all day, 
and seemed to have liked it throughout wonderfully. 
Oh dear ! with my worn-out spirits and battered con- 
stitution, and the constant lassitude of India, it seems 
marvellous that any strength could stand that physical 
trial, but I suppose in our young Bromley ball days 
we should have thought it great fun. These young 
people did, at all events. They give another pic-nic 
next Thursday, and we are getting up some tableaux 
and charades which are to be acted here ; the dining- 
room to be turned into a theatre. They are a very 
popular set of young men, and I bless their little hearts 
for taking so much trouble to carry on amusement; but 
I think they go at it rather too eagerly, and it will end 
in disappointment to some of them. The expense of 
these parties will not be so great to them, for both St. 
Cloup and Mars came to me yesterday to know what 
they were to do, f Ces messieurs ' had asked for a few 
f petits plats ' and a cook or two ; and the man who 
makes ice had been to Mars for French fruits to make 
it with. 



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"Wednesday, April 24. 

I had a young flying squirrel given me a week ago, 
its eyes shut, quite a baby ; it sucks beautifully, and 
now its eyes are open. I keep thinking of Lord Howth 
and his rat. It is very like one, only with beautiful 
sable fur, and a tail half a yard long, and wings ; at 
present very playful and gentle, but I detect much 
latent ferocity, that will be brought out by the strong 
diet of almonds and acorns to which he must come at 
last. 

Saturday, April 27. 

We had a large dinner yesterday of the chief actors and 
actresses, and I had had an immense gilt frame made, 
and put up in the folding-doors of the drawing-room ; 
and after dinner proposed carelessly that they should 
just try how tableaux would look, and with our shawls 
and veils and W.'s armour we got up two of the 
prettiest little scenes possible ; I dare say much better 
than if they had been got up with more care. Mrs. N., 
Mrs. C, X., and P. acted two scenes from ' Old Robin 
Gray,' while C. sang the ballad, and then W. and X., 
with Mrs. R. and Mrs. L., acted two scenes out of 
( Ivanhoe.' 

It was a new idea to Indians, and had the greatest 
success, and the acting a ballad makes a great dif- 
ference. It used to be dull at Woburn for want of 
a meaning. 

Three of the ladies were really pretty ; but the odd 
thing is, that Mrs. R., the plain one, looked the best 
of all, and sat like a statue. It was a very pretty 
sight. 

Our gentlemen gave another pic-nic down at the 



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waterfall yesterday, and they say nothing ever was so 
delightful ; and it is to be hoped it was, as it began at 
seven in the morning and lasted till eleven at night. 

Then there has been great interest about our 
theatricals on Tuesday, but it is a difficult matter 
to arrange the parts so as to give satisfaction to all 
the ladies concerned. 

Saturday, May 4. 

My flying squirrel is becoming familiar, and flies a 
little ; that is, it takes long hops after me wherever I 
go, and I feel be-ratted. The two little girls I bought 
are turning out very nice children. Wright and 
Jones are teaching them to work, and make quite an 
amusement of them. The dispensary which was built 
by our Fancy Fair proceeds was opened by Dr. D. this 
week. G. and I rode to see it yesterday, and it is a 
nice little place, with a very good room for surgical 
cases, of which, luckily, there are none at present, but 
Dr. D. had ten patients this morning ; one was a 
Tartar woman, another a Cashmeree, and some Ladakh 
people. Such an odd result of drawings and work. 
One of the native doctors attends there, and has taken 
such a fancy to it that he has asked leave to remain 
here when we go down to Calcutta, and he means to 
give up Government House. God bless you, dearest. 
I suppose you are going out every evening. I cannot 
say how I like your London campaign. It is such an 
amusing story that I want it to begin again. 



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CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

Simla, May 23, 1839. 

A letter to you which is to go by the Persian Gulf 
only departed to-day, and I believe there will be no 
regular steamer for nearly six weeks. A sad interrup- 
tion to our little communications. A few days after 
my letter to you was sealed, G. got the official accounts 
of the taking of Candahar, or rather how Candahar 
took Shah Soojah, and would have him for its King. 
There never was anything so satisfactory. I hope M. 
and Lord M. will have received and shown you the 
copies of Sir A. Burnes's letters ; it was such a pic- 
turesque description of the business. M. wrote me a 
very good account of it. He says :-— e Five days ago 
we poor politicals were assailed from all quarters, from 
the commander-in-chief to the lowest ensign. They 
were all exclaiming how we had deceived them ; that 
we had given out that Shah Soojah would be received 
by the chiefs and people of his country with open arms; 
that the resources of the country would be laid open 
to the British army — instead of which, he was opposed 
by his own countrymen ; no chiefs came near him ; the 
army was starving in a land of milk and honey ; in fact, 
we had deceived ourselves, and that Shah Soojah's 
cause was impossible. A little patience, and the fallacy 
of these sentiments would be proved. The sirdars left 
their late capital with scarcely two hundred followers ; 
their most confidential servants deserted them, for to 
the last their measures were most oppressive, and they 



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were heartily execrated. Every great chief with nu- 
merous followers came out to meet the Shah, and 
greeted him on his arrival in his own country with 
every demonstration of joy; the poor crowded about 
him, making offerings of flowers, and they strewed the 
road he was to pass over, with roses. Yesterday the 
King went to visit the city (we are encamped about 
two miles from it) ; every person, high and low, seemed 
to strive how they could most show their devotion to 
his Majesty, and their delight at the return of a Sud- 
dozie to power. The King visited the tomb of his 
grandfather, Ahmed Shah ; and the Prophets shirt, 
which is in keeping of the Mollahs in charge of the 
tomb, and which was brought out by the sirdars when 
they were trying to raise a religious war against us, 
was produced, and the King hugged and kissed it over 
and over again. 

c The populace are the finest race of Asiatics I have 
seen ; the men tall and muscular, the women particu- 
larly fair and pretty, and all well dressed. It seems as 
if we had dropped into paradise. 

' The country that we have been traversing for two 
months is the most barren and desolate eye ever rested 
on ; not a tree nor a blade of grass to be seen ; we were 
constantly obliged to make marches of twenty miles to 
find water ; the hills were only huge masses of clay. 
The contrast now is great ; the good things of this life 
are abundant ; luxurious crops, which will be ready for 
the sickle in three or four weeks ; extensive plains of 
green sward for the cattle ; endless gardens and or- 
chards ; the rose-trees grow wild, eight or ten feet 
high ; fruits of all kinds ; rivulets flow through the 

u 2 



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valley : the birds are all song birds, and the air rings 
with their notes ; in short, we have reached the oasis 
at last, and are thoroughly enjoying ourselves. 

c The peoj)le are all at their occupations as usual, 
and seem to have perfect confidence in us. The natives 
all agree in saying that Dost Mahommed, upon hearing 
of his brothers having fled, will follow their exam- 
ple, &c. I am very happy in my appointment, and I 
feel I have a great deal more to say to you, but this 
must go.' 

Poor M. ! In to-day's Calcutta paper there is the 
death of his pretty little sister, who came out not two 
years ago ; she very nearly died during the first hot 
season, and now has been carried off by a return of the 
same fever. Certainly this public news is very satis- 
factory ; the whole thing done without bloodshed ; and 
the effect on the people here is wonderful ; the hap- 
piness of the wives is very great : they see, with their 
mind's eye, their husbands eating apricots and drinking 
acid sherbet, and they are satisfied. Our ball to-mor- 
row will be very gay, and I have just written to P. 
to stick up a large ' Candahar ' opposite the other 
illuminations. 

Saturday, May 25. 

The Queen's ball e came off' yesterday with great 
success. We had had, the beginning of the week, 
three days of rain, which frightened us, because it is a 
rain that nothing can stand. It did us one good deed 
on Monday — washed away the twenty-four people who 
were coming to dine with us, which was lucky, as the 
greater part of the dinner prepared for them was also 
washed away by the rain breaking the skylight in the 



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293 



dining-room, and plumping down on the table. I went 
down by myself to Annandale on Thursday evening, 
to see how things were going on there, and found X., 
who has been encamped there for three days, walking 
about very conjugally with Mrs. N., to whom he is 
engaged. I felt rather de trop as they stepped about 
with me, showing off the preparations. It was a very 
pretty-looking fete ; we built one temporary sort of 
room which held fifty people, and the others dined in 
two large tents on the opposite side of the road, but 
we were all close together, and drank the Queen's 
health at the same moment with much cheering. 
Between the two tents there was a boarded platform 
for dancing, roped and arched in with flowers, and then 
in different parts of the valley, wherever the trees 
would allow of it, there was ( Victoria,' 6 God save the 
Queen,' and f Candahar' in immense letters twelve feet 
high. There was a very old Hindu temple also pret- 
tily lit up. Vishnu, or Mahadevi, to whom I believe 
it really belonged, must have been affronted. The 
native dealers in sweetmeats came down to sell their 
goods to the servants and jonpaunees, and C. and 
X. went round and bought up all their supplies for 
about twenty rupees for the general good. We dined 
at six, then had fireworks, and coffee, and then they all 
danced till twelve. It was the most beautiful evening; 
such a moon, and the mountains lcoked so soft and 
grave, after all the fireworks and glare. 

Twenty .years ago no European had ever been here, 
and there we were, with the band playing the f Puritani' 
and * Masaniello,' and eating salmon from Scotland, and 
sardines from the Mediterranean, and observing that 



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St. Cloup's potage a la Julienne was perhaps better 
than his other soups, and that some of the ladies' sleeves 
were too tight according; to the overland fashions for 
March, &c. ; and all this in the face of those high hills, 
some of which have remained untrodden since the 
creation, and we, 105 Europeans, being surrounded by 
at least 3,000 mountaineers, who, wrapped up in their 
hill blankets, looked on at what we call our polite 
amusements, and bowed to the ground if a European 
came near them. I sometimes wonder they do not cut 
all our heads off, and say nothing more about it. 

Sunday, May 26. 

The aides-de-camp are about as much trouble to me 
as so many grown-up sons. That sedate Captain P. 
followed me to my room after breakfast, and thought 
it right to mention that he had proposed to Miss S. on 
Thursday, and had been accepted, and that the aunt 
was agreeable, and that he had written to the step- 
father, Colonel , for his consent, which he had no 

reason to doubt, &c, and that he hoped I would not 
mention it to anybody but Lord A., as they were 
exceedingly desirous Captain L. E. should not know it, 
but Mrs. S. wished I should be told. If the kitchen 
poker or church steeple had gone and proposed, it 
would not have been more out of character, P. has 
always seemed so very indifferent and cold to ladies ; 
though ever since we have been here, we have observed 
how altered he was, and what high spirits he was in ; 
and then I met him the other day carrying a little 
nosegay to Stirling Castle, which looked suspicious and 
unnatural. Still the shock was great, and the only 



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295 



tiling I could think of at first, was to ask with infinite 
and mistaken promptitude if she were a nice girl, to 
which P. naturally answered that of course she was — 
a very nice girl indeed ; and I said I had had no oppor- 
tunity of speaking to her when she dined here, but that 
now I should take pains to make her acquaintance. 
And then we discussed his prospects. 

He cannot marry for a year at soonest,, even if 

Colonel consents then ; but she is only eighteen, 

and her father will not let the elder one marry till she 
is twenty. P. is going away next week on an official 
tour to Cashmere, a sort of scientific survey which Gr. 
wants him to make, and he is to be away four months. 

That business was settled, and after luncheon L. E. 
came, very unhappy in his mind — and thought I must 
have observed it. He had been on the point of pro- 
posing to Miss A. S., when he had been intercepted 
by the astute aunt, who said she could not but observe 
his attentions, and thought it as well to mention that 
A. was engaged. He said, so he had heard, but he did 
not believe it, and thereupon wrote to the aforesaid A., 
and brought me his letter and her answer, and his 
letter to the stepfather and the aunt's letter to him, 
and he thought that with my knowledge of the world, 
I could tell him whether it did not appear that she was 
only sticking to her engagement because she thought 
it right, &c. 

I could not possibly flatter him. She is a pretty- 
looking girl, who has evidently fretted herself into bad 

health because Colonel would not consent to her 

marriage with a Mr. , she being eighteen, and her 

lover the same ag;e. As she has never heard from the 



2S6 



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lover since he joined the army of the Indus, it is very- 
possible he is inconstant, and that is what L. E. goes 
npon ; he does not care how long he waits, &c. (and I 
think he will have to wait some time), but in the mean- 
time perhaps I would speak to Mrs. $., and above all 
things Captain P. was not to know. That is always 
the end of all confidences ; and in the meantime, as P. 
lives in a broad grin, and L. E. in a deep sigh, I should 
think their secrets will be guessed in a week. Thank 
goodness, now they are all engaged, except Z., who is 
not likely to fall in love with anybody but himself. 

"Wednesday, May 29. 

We had a theatrical dinner yesterday, and a re- 
hearsal of our new tableaux, which promise to be very 
successful. Six from the f Corsair,' and five from 
6 Kenil worth.' We had them at night to try how 
Gulnare would look with her lamp going to visit Con- 
rade ; and I had another grand idea, of a trap-door, 
down which Amy'Pobsart is supposed to have fallen, 
at least four inches, so that she must have had every 
bone in her body smashed ; and Yarney with a torch 
looking into it, and Leicester and Trevilian in despair, 
made it a most awful business. The rehearsal was 
rather amusing ; all the gentlemen in their common 
red coats, and a pretty Mrs. V., supposed to be 
Medora, was sitting with the shovel in her hand, and 
said in such a quiet way, ( This is, in fact, a guitar ; ' 
which, as she is dreadfully shy, and not given to speak 
at all, was one of the best jokes she ever made. 



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CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Thursday, May 30, 1839. 

Our steady doctor gave his ball last night. He was 
asked for one by Mrs. L., and found it an easier way 
of returning civilities than giving a number of dinners. 

Wright and I have been down two or three times to 
arrange his house, and put up his curtains, and he had 
enclosed all his verandahs with branches of trees and 
flowers, so that it really looked very pretty. He is very 
popular from his extreme good-nature in attending any- 
body that wants him ; he never takes any fee, and he 
takes a great deal of pains with his patients, and, more- 
over, he is a really well-informed man, and liked in 
society. So everybody whom he asked to his ball made 
a point of going, and they actually danced from eight 
at night till five in the morning : and they said it was 
one of the gayest balls ever seen. 

Saturday, June 1. 

We had our tableaux last night, and they were really 
beautiful. I am quite sorry they are over. We had 
each of them three times over, but still it is like look- 
ing at a very fine picture for two minutes and then 
seeing it torn up. Mrs. K. as Queen Elizabeth, 
dragging in Mrs. X. as Amy Robsart, was one of the 
best ; and Medora lying dead, and the Corsair in his 
6 helpless, hopeless brokenness of heart,' was also 
beautiful, but in fact they all were so, and G. is 
walking up and down his room this morning, wishing 
they would be so good as to do it all over again. The 



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enthusiasm of the audience was unbounded. C. re- 
citatived Lord Byron's words for the Corsair, but 
wrote songs for Kenilworth; the last, alluding to 
Amy's death, ( He comes too late,' was worthy of 
Mrs. Arkwright. After the tableaux were over, W. 
O. gave his first entertainment, a small supper, to 
Mrs. K., Mrs. L., Mrs. Y., Mrs. K., and all the aides- 
de-camp and one or two gentlemen, and, as the ladies 
would not go unless F. and I were there, we went 
down to his bungalow at eleven, leaving G. to see our 
guests out. W.'s supper went off remarkably well, 
and his house looked very pretty. St. Cloup thought 
he had better give a look at the supper, and when I 
told him we were going, he said, ' Oh ! alors il faut 
que M. le Capitaine fasse un peu de depense. J e vais 
pourvoir a tout cela.' The dresses were magnificent 
last night, and W. O. looked very well in his corsair's 
dress. Mrs. N. is not rich, so I make an excuse of 
her kindness in acting to send her a green satin 
pelisse, as Amy's e sea-green mantle,' and a very hand- 
some lace dress with a satin slip from G. 

Monday, June 3. 

G. has had letters from the army up to May 7. The 
Shah seems to be as quietly and comfortably settled as 
if he had never left his kingdom, and Sir J. Keane 
writes most cheerfully about the army, makes very 
light of the loss of cattle, and says the soldiers were 
never so healthy. There has been on an average one- 
third fewer in hospital than is usual in cantonments, 
and very few deaths. 

The followers of the sirdars were reduced to one 



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299 



hundred, and the sirdars so unpopular that two of our 
regiments were gone to fetch them in, almost more as 
guards than anything else. Gr. and I have been riding 
about the last three days with Mr. A., looking at the 
Dispensary and the Asylum and a Serai, the three 
charities of Simla. The Dispensary has been built 
from the proceeds of our fancy fair last year, and 
opened by Dr. D., who attends there every morning, 
and it does so much good that I am quite heartened 
up into trying another fancy fair this year, and am 
going to send out the circulars this blessed day. It is 
an odd list of patients at the Dispensary. There is a 
Thibet Tartar woman with a Chinese face, and a 
rheumatic daughter, and there are people from Ladakh. 
and Sikhs and mountaineers, and quantities of little 
black babies to be vaccinated. I have not an idea 
what to do for the sale. The trick of the drawings 
to produce such an immense sum cannot be tried 
again. 

Wednesday, June 5. 

This must go, dearest, G. says — where to, I have not 
an idea, but I know it will never reach you : it is like 
going to call upon you, when you are out, which under 
present circumstances would be uncommonly disagree- 
able. But no steamer can go for two months, so we 
must hazard something by that stupid, old-fashioned 
sailing apparatus. 

We are all quite well, and the climate quite beau- 
tiful — a leetle too hot, but not worse than an English 
August day. Mr. L. gave another fancy ball last 
night, and yesterday morning we had a deputation 
from the Station to ask us for a day on which they are 

-* 



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to give us a ball. We named June 18 (Waterloo and 
all that), and that is to close the season, and then we 
are to take to the rains for three months. 

Saturday, June 8. 

Our play last night went off beautifully. I do not 
know when I have seen better acting, and Mrs. C. 
really acts as if she had done nothing else all her life. 
I suppose it is easier in a room with carpets and chairs, 
and doors and windows, and then she has been brought 
up in France, and has the quiet self-possession of a 
French actress, and her arms are always in the right 
place, and she does not seem to think about acting; 
then she sings very well and looked very handsome, so 
that altogether, to Anglo-Indians, who never see female 
parts acted except by artillerymen or clerks, it was a 
great pleasure. 

We made such pretty scenery, too, with a lattice 
window, and some steps and a few shrubs and plenty 
of curtains. After the play they danced five or six 
quadrilles, had some supper, and went off, all pleased ; 
and they want more of these evenings, but it is thun- 
dering and pouring to-day, and it is no use attempting 
to give parties in the rains. I wish my drawing paper 
would not begin to spoil already, but it is turning into 
blotting paper. Luckily I cannot find anything to 
draw just now. It has occurred to me that when we 
go home I shall not be able to show you what an 
Indian woman is like, and to be sure we have seen 
very few ; but some of the Paharee women are very 
pretty, who go about the hills cutting grass and wood. 
I met some yesterday and asked them to come and be 



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301 



sketched, and they said they would, but they have 
never arrived. Some of the nautch-girls in the bazaar 
are very pretty, and wear beautiful ornaments, but it is 
not lawful to look at them even for sketching purposes, 
and indeed, Mr. N., one of the magistrates, has removed 
them all from the main street, so the bazaar is highly 
correct, but not half so picturesque as last year. There 
are very few children ever to be seen in it. Natives 
who come to open shops, &c, never bring their 
families, from the impossibility of moving women in a 
sufficiently private manner, and I very often think 
that an English village with women and children 
walking about must be a pretty sight. They do go 

about, don't they ? I forget. Poor Mrs. , who 

had a shocking confinement in our camp last year, 
has had a worse now; for thirty-six hours Dr. D. 
could not leave her for a moment, and for twelve it 
was not possible to know whether she were alive — no 
pulse, and quite cold. We had made all arrangements 
for putting off our party yesterday, but she rallied in 
the afternoon, and is going on well now. I never saw 
Dr. D. quite overset before, nor indeed the least per- 
turbed, but he fairly burst out crying when he came 
to my room on his way home, and said he did not 
think anything could induce him to go through such 
horrors again ; and it was very unlucky that, just as 
he was so thoroughly worn out, a poor Paharee was 
brought into the Dispensary almost crushed by a tree 
falling on him, and Dr. D. had to go and cut off his 
leg before he went home. I rather wonder how sur- 
geons enough can be found for all the pains and aches 
of this world. 



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"Wednesday, June 12. 

Captain P. goes off early to-morrow on an official* 
tour to Cashmere, and will be away five months. He 
and Miss S. take it very quietly, but they looked 
rather unhappy last night. 

He had brought me in the morning some Berlin 
work which the two sisters had done for the fancy fair, 
and which they had sold to him in advance for a mere 
trifle, and he wanted to know if it were the right price. 
I thought it very right in the romantic view of the 
case, but very wrong as touching the interests of the 
poor Dispensary. I told Miss A. S. (the sister-in-law 
as is to be) that I should like to buy some of their 
work at a dearer rate, and she said there would be 
plenty, i but at present I am working a table-cover 
for Captain P.' Then she asked if I wanted any 
polished pebbles — ' I have a great many, but I have 
given the best to Captain P.,' just the sort of way in 
which people make a fuss with their brothers-in-law at 
first. It goes off, does it not, Mr. D. ? 

Saturday, June 15. 

We have been a long time without letters, and 
nobody knows when we shall have any again. There 
are several stories left hanging on something which 
ought to have been cleared up a long time ago, and 
never will be now — poor L. E. L.'s death ! We have 
heard twice from you since the first account, and it 
never appeared whether Maclean was f a brute of a 
husband,' or she, poor thing ! very easily excited. 
Then, that Baily, the supposed murderer (?), we never 
could find the end of that story. 



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303 



I went out pleasantly yesterday evening, quite a 
new idea ; but as we have so much to do for the little 
amusements of other people, I thought I might as well 
for once amuse myself, so I went after dinner to see 
Mr. and Mrs. C, and I was to lie on the sofa and 
they were to sing, and so they did, beautifully, all 
sorts of things ; she sings equally well in five lan- 
guages, French, English, German, Italian, and Hin- 
dustani, and Mr. C. sings anything that is played to 
him without having any music. Altogether it was 
very pleasant, which was lucky, for I meant to be at 
home at eleven, a very undue hour for Simla, and a 
violent thunderstorm came on which seemed to be 
splitting the hills into small shreds, so I could not get 
home till one, which Wright thought very shocking. 
I cannot imagine when we go home how we are to get 
back to reasonable hours. 



CHAPTER XL. 

Wednesday, June 19, 1839. 

I must tell you for the children's sake such a touch- 
ing trait of my flying squirrel. It is the most coaxing 
animal I ever saw, and lives in my room without any 
cage, or chain, and at night I always shut him up in 
a little bath-room, leaving the sitting-room and the 
dressing-room between him and me. I was woke two 
nights ago by this little wretch sitting on my pillow 
and licking my face. I thought it was a rat at first, 



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and did not like it ; indeed I did not like it much better 
when I found it was the squirrel. I called up Wright, 
who carried him back to his room, where she found he 
had broken a pane of glass, got out into the garden, 
where he had never been before, and come in through 
the window of my dressing-room. I always have it 
open, as the nights are very hot, and I try to expect 
that the air will come into the bedroom, and that the 
thieves will not come further than the dressing-room. 
Wright would not believe that he had really been so 
clever ; however, she stopped up the broken pane and 
shut all the doors, and a quarter of an hour after, I 
heard another little scratch, and there he was again 
patting my ear, so then I gave it up, wrapped him in 
the mosquito net, and let him sleep there the rest of 
the night. But it must have been pretty to see him 
hopping through the garden and finding his own way 
in. We went last night to the ball given to us by the 
Station : it was not at all a fatiguing evening, and it is 
the last for some time. 

Friday, June 21. 

I have been carrying on a suit in Colonel 's 

very unjust court for an unfortunate native tailor, 
attached to our house, who cannot get a small debt 
paid that has been due to him for a year ; and these 
horrid magistrates are worse, if you can conceive such 
a thing, than common English magistrates — worse than 
that Blackheath man who interfered with William the 
pedestrian, and whom we burnt in effigy on the lawn 
at Eden Farm; these men spited this poor tailor, 
because, finding they would not hear him, he gave a 
petition to G. Then the magistrates found they must 



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305 



attend to him, so they made him come every day to 
their court, and at the end of the day said they had 
not time to summon the debtor, and he must come 
again. They did this four days running, which is ruin 
to a native who just lives on his day's work. So I 
went to Gr. again, and he wrote a thundering note to 
them, and an hour after they sent the man his debt — 
but they are two extraordinary individuals. Our old 
khansamah said that the chief native officers of their 
court had threatened him that, if he would not give 
them twenty-five rupees apiece, they would summon 
his wife to appear in court, which is the greatest dis- 
grace can befal a Mussulmaunee, and a complete loss 
of caste. Nobody would believe the old man's story 
at first, but I sent him to Captain B., who heard his 
story, found he had plenty of witnesses, and took him 
up to the court. Mr. — — , the second magistrate, 
wrote word to Captain B. that ( the case had been fully 
proved, and your old khansamah comes out with flying 
colours.' This sounded very well, as it was always 
supposed that no servant from the plains could get any 

justice against and 's officers, and we were 

rather proud of it, but I bethought myself yesterday 
that we had never heard what became of the culprits, 

so I got Gr. to write and say that as Mr. had been 

so kind as to offer an English translation of the pro- 
ceedings, I should be very much obliged to him for it ; 
and there came such a paper — such a bit of real magis- 
tracy ! i The court cannot deny that the case has 
been fully proved ; ' just as if they ought to deny it ; 
but as it was a delicate matter interfering with officers 
so immediately connected with themselves, they did 

x 



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not know what punishment to inflict, and had taken 
bail of the principal offender, and there he is acting 
still as vakeel of the court, and extorting bribes from 
every wretched native that comes for justice — very few 
do come here. G. was in such a rage, and wrote a 
minute on their paper that they will not forget, and is 
sending the whole thing to the principal court at 
Delhi. It is horrible to think how this class of Eu- 
ropeans oppresses the natives ; the great object of the 
Government being to teach them reliance on English 
justice, and the poor natives cannot readily understand 
tli at they are no longer under their own despotic chiefs. 
They will be a long time understanding it here. 

Sunday, June 23. 

I went before breakfast yesterday with Captain 
L. E. and Captain Z. down to Annandale, where he 
had sent tents the day before. P. came in the middle 
of the day, and we stayed till the cool of the evening. 
I wanted to sketch the children sleeping under the 
little cascades of water which fall upon their heads. 
All the babies of the valley are brought up in that 
fashion, and some of them have great hollows at the 
top of their heads. It was very hot in the valley, but 
it was rather a nice way of passing the day, and we 
got home just as a great storm began. 

Thursday, June 27. 

I did not think of sending this for ages, but the 
Calcutta authorities have fitted out a Chinese clipper 
to £0 to the Persian Gulf, and seem to think the letters 
may be in England in three months. My J ournal may 



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307 



be a help to them ; for if you observe, our mutual Jour- 
nals go safely, so I let them have it from pure kindness. 
It is the only letter I send, and nobody seems to guess 
when we can write again, not for two months certainly, 
so do not fidget about us. We are all well and pros- 
perous. 

Simla, Monday, July 1. 

I sent off a short Journal to you on Saturday, which 
you will probably never hear of, as in the dearth of 
Bombay steamers, the Government has been trying a 
new experiment of taking up a Chinese clipper which 
will probably be of little use, and they have sent her 
to Aden with our letters, and have puffed their experi- 
ment so successfully that they have actually entrapped 
me out of a large slice of Journal, so that portion of 
my life will never be heard of again — ( a blank, my 
lord.' 

I should not care what becomes of the letters I 
write, if I could get any to read. This is such a tire- 
some time of year for that, and I get such yearnings 
for letters, and such fancies come over me. It seems 
an odd thing to say to you, but I dare say you have 
the same thoughts with regard to me, but I sometimes 
think if anything should have happened to you, what 
would become of me ? and then the thought gets fairly 
into my head, and runs into all sorts of details, till I 
cannot get to sleep, and know it is very wrong, and 
then I ask Dr. D. for a little medicine and I get 
better, but in the meanwhile it is horrid to be so far 
off. However, of course you are very well, and so am 
I ; only mind we keep so, because we really must meet 
again, we shall have so much to say. We heard of dear 

x 2 



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old Runjeet's death on Saturday. It took place on 
the 27th. It is rather fine, because so unusual in the 
East; that even to the last moment, his slightest signs, 
for he had long lost his speech, were obeyed. It is 
almost a pity they were, only that one is glad such a 
master mind should have its dues to the last; but the 
despatch says, that on the last day the Maharajah sent 
for all his famous jewels, his horses with their splendid 
trappings, the surpeche and pearls given him by G., 
and ordered them to be sent to different shrines with 
directions that the Brahmins should pray for him ; that 
Kurruck Singh (the heir) and the sirdars who were 
sittincr round his bed burst into loud lamentations and 
said, f What will become of us if you give everything 
away ? ' and the Maharajah wept, but said it must be 
so. Then he ordered the Ivoh-i-noor (the famous 
diamond) to be sent down to the temple of Jugger- 
naut, but his sirdars again represented that there was 
not such another diamond in the world, and that the 
whole wealth of India could not repurchase it, and he 
consented to let that remain. But the distribution of 
jewels went on till the evening, and he is supposed, 
his newswriters say, to have given away the value of 
two crores of rupees. It is a great pity such a collec- 
tion of precious stones, quite unequalled, should be 
dispersed to these shrines, where they will never be 
seen again. The Rajah Dhian Singh, the prime 
minister, seems at present to manage everything, and 
to be in as great favour with Kurruck Singh as he was 
with the father ; and as he is a very superior man, with 
dominions of his own almost equal to the Punjab, 
things may go on quietly if he remains in favour ; but 



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309 



young Noor Mahal Singh, Kurruck's son, is coming 
back from Peshawur, determined to make himself 
prime minister to his father, so there may be a danger 
of a fight. G. declares that no degree of confusion 
(and I am willing to make as much as possible, if it 
would be of any use) will keep us here another year, 
so it is no use blowing up the coals amongst the kings. 
Our poor fat friend Shere Singh has sent his chief 
adviser here, to ask protection and advice, and he 
brought me a very pretty letter from little Pertab, and 
I have just been signing a Persian answer to it, and 
equally pretty, I am confident. I just ran my eye 
over it to be sure that Mr. C. had expressed my real 
sentiments, and I think it looked very like them. 
Shere Singh is in a terrible fright. 

Tuesday, July 2. 

The accounts from Lahore describe great dismay 
and real grief amongst Runjeet's subjects. Two of 
his ranees have declared their determination to burn 
themselves with him ; but as their stepson Kurruck 
has implored them not to do so, it is to be hoped they 
will give it up, if they are sure of kind treatment. I 
begin to think that the 6 hundred wife system' is better 
than the mere one wife rule ; they are more attached 
and faithful 

"Wednesday, July 3. 

There have been two dry days without fog or rain, 
so we took advantage of them to be tf at home' last 
night, and the people all came and danced very mer- 
rily for two hours, and in the middle of the party, 
the express with the overland mail arrived — rather a 



310 



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disappointment, as it only comes down to April 15th. 
I presume your letter is coming, and in the meanwhile 
you were well to the 15th ; but I want your view of 
things, instead of having to pick them out of 'Galignani.' 
Those poor dear ranees whom we visited and thought 
so beautiful and so merry, have actually burnt them- 
selves ; but I am not going to tell you any more about 
Lahore for the present, as Gr. gets every day from his 
native newswriter such quaint and interesting accounts 
of all the intrigues, and events, and lamentations there, 
that I will send you the papers — I am sure they will 
interest you. The death of those poor women is so 
melancholy, they were such gay young creatures, and 
they died with the most obstinate courage. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

August 1, 1839. 

This will be more a letter than a Journal, as I have 
skipped more than a fortnight, partly because I have 
been obliged to give all my little leisure to drawing 
for the fancy fair, and then, that I have had ten days 
of the same ague I had in the plains, from the same 
reason — constant rain and fog. It is a tiresome com- 
plaint while it lasts, from the violence of the headache 
and pains in the bones, but I do not think it does one 
much real harm, at least not up here. It stopped only 
four days ago, and I feel quite well again. ^Ye are 
very quiet just now. Rains and fogs the whole day, 
..till towards five o'clock, when it kindly holds, up to 
4 . - 



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311 



allow us to go out for an hour and a half, and then it 
kindly rains again so as to prevent anybody coming to 
dinner. Gr. and I went yesterday to show F. a beau- 
tiful new walk we had discovered ; that is, we call it 
a walk, though there is nothing to walk upon but a 
goat- path, but it leads to a beautiful hill which stands 
bolt upright by itself, looking down on various little 
villages in the valleys. The first time we went, the 
jonpaunees contrived to carry me most part of the way, 
but this time what little path there had been was 
washed away, and we had to walk with sticks in one 
hand and to cling to the rocks with the other, and the 
jonpaunees crept along just under the path to catch us 
if we slipped. I never saw anything so beautiful as it 
was, the ground so green with all sorts of ferns, and 
covered with iris and mountain geraniums, and such 
an amphitheatre of mountains all round, with great 
white clouds in the valleys, just as if the mountains 
had let their gowns slip off their shoulders. Our 
Bengalee servants, who turn out in great numbers 
when we walk, evidently thought it a service of great 
danger, particularly when one of my boys slipped down 
a little waterfall, and looked, as Gr. said, in his red and 
gold, like a large goldfish floundering about in the pool 
below. My old jemadar came and gave me a regular 
scolding this morning, which he had evidently got up 
with great care in his choicest English. ( Soobratta 
tell me, my lord and my two ladies take very dan- 
gerous walk, so I just ask of ladyship's favour to ask 
my lord not to order any more such walk. Ladyship 
not strong constitution ' (that is a long word they have 
picked up from the native doctor, who always tells me 



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so), ' and what for she walk when she can be carried, 
and why go on bad road ? I see our bheestie's (water- 
carrier) cow last week tumble down hill, and she roll 
over and over till she come kill at the bottom, and if 
ladyship see that, she never go dangerous walk again.' 
He walked off quite satisfied with himself and his 
oratory, and I own, I think the roll and e come kill ' of 
the bheestie's cow is pathetic and conclusive. 

Tuesday, August 6. 

I have had such a piece of shawl luck ; everybody's 
mind gets a shawl twist in India, you must understand ; 
and moreover we are all making up our packets for 
England now. 

This place is full of Cashmerees, and they never 
come further south than Delhi, so this is our last shawl 
opportunity. Q. came into my room with a magnifi- 
cent black one, a regular fifty-guinea shawl, and said 
the owner had told him to show it to me. I said it 
was very beautiful, but I could not afford any more 
expensive shawls, and he said if I really fancied it, he 
would try and beat the price down. I said no, but at 
the same time asked, in a fatal fit of curiosity, what 
the -price was, and he said, i Perhaps I can get it 
cheaper, but the man says you may have it for 240 
rupees.' (24/.) Upon which I said with infinite 
promptitude — f Oh, then, run for your life and pay 
him directly, before anybody else sees him ! ' and Q. 
thought it advisable himself, for he said some of the 
other Cashmerees were offering him more for it. The 
shawl has been compared with three bought by Mrs. 
R. and Mrs. A. for fifty guineas, and there is not a 



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313 



shade of difference ; in fact, it is a perfect beaut j, quite 
a catch. 

August 18. 

I am uncommonly unhappy in my mind. My dear 
little flying squirrel, that I had brought up to i man's 
estate ' from three days old, died yesterday of cholera. 
I never mean to witness the death of a pet again. To 
be sure, Chance has lasted so many years that I have 
not had much practice, but I am quite wretched about 
this poor little animal. He was so coaxing, and 
though my doors and windows are never shut, and he 
had no cage, he never thought of stirring out of my 
rooms. When I came home, he used to stick his little 
head out from under the pillow and hold out his paw 
for my hand and bite it all over ; and when I was 
dressing, he always sat on the glass, or on Wright's 
shoulder, with great black eyes like Pamela's fixed on 
my hair, which he helped to arrange occasionally. 
When Gr. came in the evening, he climbed up the 
arm-chair and sat on his shoulder, apparently whisper- 
ing to him ; and though G. said the squirrel was only 
pulling his ear, I am convinced he had more to do 
with public affairs than people generally supposed. I 
never saw such a good little thing or such a clean pet. 
He never ate anything but two or three spoonfuls of 
tea, but yesterday he got hold of a pear the servants 
were taking away from luncheon, and it killed him in 
a very few hours. My own belief is that as people in 
India are uncommonly dull, the surplus share of sense 
is i served out ' to the beasts, who are therefore un- 
commonly clever, and their talents are developed by 
their owners leading such solitary lives that they are 



314 



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able to devote more time to the education of their 
animals. 



CHAPTEE XLII. 

Simla, Sunday, Sept. 1, 1839. 

I thixk I will begin again soon this time — first, 
because to-morrow is your birthday, so, as there is a 
difference of half the world in our reckoning, I begin 
keeping it in time for fear of accidents. Then I am 
moved to write, because I was looking over, for the 
180th time, Swift's J ournal, and he says, in September 
1710, just 129 years ago, i Have I not brought myself 
into a fine premuuire to begin writing letters on whole 
sheets ? I cannot tell whether you like these Journal- 
letters. I believe they would be dull to me to read 
them over; but perhaps little M. D. is pleased to 
know how Presto passes his time.' Xow, you are 
clearly M. D., so I look upon that as a prophecy, and 
think that I am fulfillino* it. Then I have an extra 
hour to-day. It began to pour just after we went out 
riding, and we all had to rush home and got wet 
through. 

W. O. writes from Loodheeana that the thermo- 
meter is 104°, and only two degrees lower at night. 

Friday, Sept, 6. 

I had some tents sent down to the waterfall yester- 
day, and Mrs. A. and Gr. and I went down there to 
breakfast. The valleys are rather hot, but we found 



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315 



a shady place near the great waterfall, where it was 
much cooler than in the tents, and she and I talked 
there very comfortably, while G. went out ( exploring,' 
and Chance had a vague idea that by running up and 
down the bank he might succeed in stopping the 
waterfall, but though he tried for four hours the ex- 
periment was a decided failure. Those immense 
purple and green butterflies called i Purple Emperors ' 
were flying about in quantities — such beautiful crea- 
tures ! Mrs. A. would not bring her children, and 
was delighted with the noise of the waterfall, because 
otherwise she would have missed the noise of the 
children so much more. 

Mrs. N. and X. came down to luncheon, and then 
we all went to a second waterfall, which is slightly 
inaccessible, but by dint of ladders and chairs and 
being carried by jonpaunees here and there, we ar- 
rived at it, and a very pretty sight it was — the cave 
so dark and the water so bright. It looked so nice 
that we settled to pursue the bed of the river in search 
of a third waterfall, which everybody talks of and 
nobody has seen, so we were carried and the gentle- 
men splashed along through the water, and Chance 
slipped into a deep place and was carried down and 
nearly drowned ; but Jimmund jumped in and ( plucked 
up his drowned honour by the locks,' and after a little 
rubbing he soon came to. We found the third fall, 
but could only see it from the top, as there was no 
path down the sides, and then we went back to Mrs. 
A. at the second fall. F. came late, and was persuaded 
to scramble down to the second fall, and then we all 
came home to dinner. That sort of day in the open 



316 UP THE COUNTRY. 

air and the shade is very pleasant,, and though it seems 
like a long excursion from the steepness of the roads, 
it is only three miles. 

W. O. writes word that their camp has been attacked 
by regular thieves and twenty camels carried off. and 
the sentries had killed two of the thieves. 

A box of books arrived yesterday, rather the worse 
for having travelled through the rains, and unluckily 
the Annuals are those that have suffered the most. 

Sunday, Sept. 8. 

Simla is much moved just now by the arrival of a 
Mrs. J.* who has been talked of as a great beauty all 
the year, and that drives every other woman, with any 
pretensions in that line, quite distracted, with the ex- 
ception of Mrs. X., who, I must say, makes no fuss 
about her own beauty, nor objects to it in other 
people. Mrs. J. is the daughter of a Mrs. C, who is 
still very handsome herself, and whose husband is 
deputy-adjutant-general, or some military authority of 
that kind. She sent this only child to be educated at 
home, and went home herself two years ago to see her. 
In the same ship was Mr. J., a poor ensign, going 
home on sick leave. Mrs. C. nursed him and took 
care of him, and took him to see her daughter, who 
was a girl of fifteen at school. He told her he was 
engaged to be married, consulted her about his pros- 
pects, and in the meantime privately married this child 
at school. It was enough to provoke any mother, but 
as it now cannot be helped, we have all been trying to 

* Afterwards the celebrated Lola ilontez. 



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317 



persuade her for the last year to make it up, as she 
frets dreadfully about her only child. She has with- 
stood it till now, but at last consented to ask them for 
a month, and they arrived three days ago. The rush 
on the road was remarkable, and one or two of the 
ladies were looking absolutely nervous. But nothing 
could be more unsatisfactory than the result, for Mrs. 
J. looked lovely, and Mrs. C. had set up for her a 
very grand jonpaun, with bearers in fine orange and 
brown liveries, and the same for herself; and J. is a 
sort of smart-looking man, with bright waistcoats and 
bright teeth, with a showy horse, and he rode along in 
an attitude of respectful attention to f ma belle mere.' 
Altogether it was an imposing sight, and I cannot see 
any way out of it but magnanimous admiration. They 
all called yesterday when I was at the waterfalls, and 
F. thought her very pretty. 

Tuesday, Sept. 10. 

We had a dinner yesterday. Mrs. J. is undoubtedly 
very pretty, and such a merry unaffected girl. She is 
only seventeen now, and does not look so old, and 
when one thinks that she is married to a junior lieu- 
tenant in the Indian army, fifteen years older than 
herself, and that they have 160 rupees a month, and 
are to pass their whole lives in India, I do not wonder 
at Mrs. C.'s resentment at her having run away from 
school. 

There are seventeen more officers come up to Simla 
on leave for a month, partly in the hope of a little 
gaiety at the end of the rains ; and then the fancy fair 
has had a great reputation since last year, and as they 



318 



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will all spend money, they are particularly welcome ; 
but we had o-ot through all our formal dinners, and 
now we must begin again. * 

Wednesday, Sept. 11. 

"W". says the heat is terrific at Lahore, 104° at night 
and 109° in the day; and Captain M. says none of 
them have closed their eyes for three nights. We had 
a large party last night, the largest I have seen in 
Simla, and it would have been a pretty ball anywhere, 
there were so many pretty people. The retired wives, 
now that their husbands are on the march back from 
Cabul, ventured out and got through one evening 
without any prejudice to their characters. 

Thursday, Sept. 12. 

W. is very much bored at Lahore, and Mr. C. has 
given him leave to come back, and he will be here in 
two or three days. Little Pertab is as nice a child as 
ever, W. says, and remembers all the English words 
we taught him. They all cried and salaamed to the 
picture of Runjeet Singh, which T\ r . had copied from 
my sketch, and he was obliged to give it to the old 
fakeer. 

ilonday, Sept. 16. 

^V. O. got home this morning, having ridden from 
Lahore in three days ; about sixty miles a day, and the 
thermometer at 110° — enough to kill him, but he does 
not seem the worse for it, though he looks very thin. 
He says he missed one of his relays of horses and lay 
down under a tree to sleep while the guide rode on for 
a conveyance, and when he awoke, he found one of the 



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319 



Akalees (those wild bigots of whom even Runjeet was 
afraid) sitting by him and fanning him with a large 
fan. Touching ! 

We are going to a ball to-night, which the married 
gentlemen give us ; and instead of being at the only 
public room, which is a broken, tumble-down place, it 
is to be at the C.s, who very good-naturedly give up 
their house for it. 

Wednesday, Sept. 18. 

The ball went off with the greatest success ; trans- 
parencies of the taking of Ghuznee, ( Auckland ' in all 
directions, arches and verandahs made up of flowers ; 
a whist table for his lordship, which is always a great 
relief at these balls ; and every individual at Simla was 
there. There was a supper-room for us, made up of 
velvet and gold hangings belonging to the durbar, and 
a standing supper all night for the company in general, 
at which one very fat lady was detected in eating five 
suppers. We came away at one, but it was kept up 
till five, and altogether succeeded. W., after all that 
journey, sat up till five. 

Thursday, Sept. 19. 

The July overland came in yesterday, and I have 
got your mice fat letter from Newsalls, and the Journal 
of your last month in London. I remember the pain 
of leaving London at the end of the second season. It 
was ( such dreadful hagony,' as the boy says, in ( Oliver 
Twist,' that I quite enter into T.'s feelings. E. is 
pretty well for the first year, and I expect will show- 
stronger symptoms of the disease next year. The 
third year I shall be at home, to hear all about 
it, which will be amazingly good fun ; and in the 



320 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



meantime you cannot imagine the treasures these Jour- 
nals are. Only think how pleasant ! An old Colonel 
Skinner, a native as black as this ink, whose . life you 
can see in Miss Roberts' book, writes to W. that c If 
the Miss Edens do not wish to mortify an old soldier, 
and bring down his grey hairs with sorrow to the 
grave, they will accept a pair of shawls he has ordered 
for them in Cashmere, and which have just arrived. 
If they return them, he shall imagine they look upon 
him as a native, and not as an old British soldier.' 
Nothing evidently could be more palpably indelicate 
than to refuse them. I am the last woman in the 
world to hurt anybody's feelings by returning any 
shawl, to say nothing of a white one, made on purpose 
in Cashmere ; and if he had thrown in a scarf, I should 
have thought his appearance and complexion only too 
fair for a British soldier. Do you think they will be 
long shawls, or square ? 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

Simla, Friday, Sept. 27, 1839. 

It appears that our last letters will again be too late 
for the steamer. Gr. always keeps the express till it is 
a day too late for the steamer. In fact, if he has a 
fault (I don't think he has, but if he has), it is a slight 
disposition to trifle with the English letters, just on the 
same principle as he always used to arrive half an hour 
too late for dinner at Longleat and Bowood. He 



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321 



never will allow for the chance of being too late, and 
now, for two months running, his despatches have 
been left at Bombay. 

We had our fancy fair on Wednesday, which went 
off with great eclat, and was really a very amusing 
day, and moreover produced 6,500 rupees, which, for a 
very small society, is an immense sum. When we 
arrived at the i Auckland Gate,' which was the same 
as last year, we were stopped by a gang of gipseys, 
who had their little tent and their donkey, and the pot 
boiling on three sticks, and a boy plucking a fowl and 
another with a hare, &c. X. and L. and a Captain 
C. were disguised as gipseys, and ^he most villanous- 
looking set possible ; and they told our fortunes, and 
then came on to the fair and sang an excellent song 

about our poor old Colonel and a little hill fort 

that he has been taking ; but after the siege was over, he 
found no enemy in it, otherwise it was a gallant action. 
X. showed me the song some days ago, and I thought , 
it might affront the old man if it came upon him un- 
awares, so they showed it to him first, and he adopted 
it as his own joke. 

Then the selling at the stalls began, and everything 
was bought up very quickly ; then there was a raffle 
for my two pictures, and Ave reduced the tickets to 
3 rupees each, and would not let anybody take more 
than three, and yet, with that they produced 751. 
Rather a shame ! but I could not help it — a little 
single figure, which I had done in two mornings, and 
promised to W. O., was put up to auction when he 
was away, and fetched 15/., so I must do another for 
him. F. sent a great collection of toys she had made 

Y 



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in the bazaar, which produced 20/. Mr. C. was ais 
excellent auctioneer for the four things that were to* 
be sold by auction — that small drawing of mine and 
three beautiful little oil paintings, sent to me for the 
fair by a regular artist, a Mr. Gwatkin, whose 
Christian names are Joshua Reynolds (he is a great- 
nephew of Sir Joshua), so Mr. C. began with the 
picture of an old, bald man: — f Will anybody allow 
me to say 100 rupees for this splendid composition of 
the famous Sir Joshua Reynolds t — an absolute gem, a 
real Joshua Reynolds. I beg your pardon; I have 
just distinguished the surname of Gwatkin, but I was 
misled by the similarity of style. The original Sir 
Joshua would not, however, have been affronted ; 
those flesh tints on the bald head are magnificent ! 
Eighty rupees I think you said. But you have not 
noticed the mountain in the background — an exact 
representation of any one of the Alps, I may say of all 
the Alps, and valuable to any of us who are not likely 

to see the Alps in a hurry. Mr. , allow me to 

say 100 rupees for this beautiful delineation of a calm 
old age, unconscious of decay : it is worth your notice. 5 

Mr. looks about sixty, and still tries (without the 

least success) to be a young man. G. bought the 
picture for me. I went as far as eight guineas for the 
second myself, but was outbid by Mr. A. ; and the 
third, which was a very inferior article, of a nun, hung 
on hand, so at last C. turned to the Baboo belonging 
to his office, who was grinning at his master's jokes, 
and said, 6 1 see, Baboo, you are determined to 
outbid everybody for this valuable specimen of English 
art — Seetannauth Baboo has bid thirty-five rupees for 



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323 



this remarkable portrait of a nun " in maiden medita- 
tion, fancy free," and I have great pleasure in knock- 
it down to him. Seetannauth Baboo, you are most 
fortunate.' The Baboo clearly did not know why, but 
he is very rich, and the Hindus have a great idea of 
the saving merits of charity ; so he paid his money, 
and I saw him all the rest of the day walking about, 
with his servant carrying his little nun's picture after 
him. 

We had provided luncheon at a large booth with the 
sign of the ( Marquess of Granby.' L. E. was Old 
Weller, and so disguised I could not guess him. X. 
was Sam Weller ; R., Jingle ; and Captain C, Mrs. 
Weller ; Captain Z. merely a waiter, with one or two 
other gentlemen ; but they all acted very well up to 
their characters, and the luncheon was very good fun, 
and was kept up through three relays of company, 
fifty at a time ; and as we found all the food, the 
proceeds for the charity were very good. Then G. 
gave some prizes for the Ghoorkas to shoot for, and the 
afternoon ended with races ; a regular racing stand, 
and a very tolerable course for the hills, all the gentle- 
men in satin jackets and jockey caps, and a weighing 
stand — in short, everything got up regularly. I never 
can care about races, but this was a popular bit of the 
day with most of the people, who had vague recollec- 
tions of Epsom in their young days. Half the stakes 
went to the charity. Altogether there is money 
enough to keep up the hospital for four years, by 
which time another Governor- General will be here; 
but I'm afraid when Dr. D. goes, it will not be the 
useful establishment it has been. Everybody likes 

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these out-of-door amusements at this time of year, and 
it is a marvel to me how well X. and K. and L. E. 
contrive to make all their plots and disguises go on. I 
suppose in a very small society it is easier than it 
would be in England, and they have all the assistance 
of servants to any amount, who do all they are told, 
and merely think the i Sahib Logue ' are mad. 

Friday, Oct. 4. 

This has had a week's interruption, for I was taken 
on Saturday with spasms, and then fever, and so on ; 
and have been quite laid up. 

The August overland arrived yesterday. Letters 
of August 12th here on October 3rd. Quicker than 
ever ! By-the-bye, I beg to remind you that we left 
Portsmouth this day four years. There is something 
in that ; I do not exactly know what, but something — 
the waste of four good years, if nothing else. Your 
letters from Newsalls, and all the letters, had a quiet, 
pleasant family way with them, but very few events. 
It is rather shocking to see you regretting your 
London season so much. I am afraid, my dear M., 
that after ( a youth of folly ' you will be reduced to 
solace yourself with ( an old age of cards.' 

With the Bombay dak came that shawl of Colonel 
Skinner's I told you we were expecting, but we were 
so occupied with the letters, we could not at first 
attend to the shawl ; but now, upon investigation, we 
are all of opinion there never was so handsome an 
article seen. The dak was, I suppose, overloaded, so 
that only one shawl is come. F. and I are in such a 
horrid fright, lest the other should be lost. We have 



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325 



not the nerve to draw lots for this one ; it would be 
almost less unpleasant to cut it in two. 

One of our servants dropped down dead in the 
verandah three days ago. He was talking and laugh- 
ing with some of the others, squatting on the ground 
in their usual fashion, and he just laid his head back 
and died. He was a young man — one we always 
called Shylock, from his sharp, Jewish look. There 
are several of his relations in the establishment, and 
their screams were horrible ; but twelve hours after 
they buried him. Yesterday they gave a great feast to 
all the Mussulmauns, and when that is over, they 
always seem very comfortable again. 

Think of T. putting in a letter to F. yesterday, 
s This happy result of the war will of course ensure 
Lord A.'s elevation to the peerage ; there cannot be two 
opinions about that.' 

Curious ignorance, combined with considerable vul- 
garity ! ( Yet Nature might have made us such as these,' 
as Autolycus says ; though really I do not see how 
she could, with any conscience, or without a great deal 
of trouble. T. is anxious we should stop a few days 
at on our way down, that we may make ac- 

quaintance with 6 my dear wife and daughter,' as he 
fears it will not suit his finances to go to Calcutta at 
present. I think I see the whole camp of 12,000 
precious souls stopping a few days at a station where 
there are three Europeans, just to make acquaintance 
with Mrs. and Miss T. ! But all J/s letters are ' du 
Collins tout pur.' 



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Tuesday, Oct, 8. 

The second shawl is come to hand safe. Capt. P. 
writes from Cashmere that he has seen those that are 
in the loom there for us, and that they will not be 
finished for some months, but he says he never saw 
anything the least like them. He gives such a horrid 
account of the tyranny of the Sikhs over the Cash- 
merees, and in their own jaghires, through which he 
has been passing ; their cruelty is dreadful. He has 
been through the territories belonging to the Jumnoo 
family, to which Dhian Singh, the prime minister, 
our friend Heera Singh, and an uncle of his, Gholab 
Singh, belong. 

The number of persons without noses, or ears, are 
incredible, and Gholab Singh, who is the w*orst of all, 
actually flayed alive the other day 300 men who had 
offended him. 

It is the practice of that family never to allow a 
female infant of their race to live ; they marry wives 
from other very high Rajpoot families, but they will 
not give their daughters to inferior princes nor let them 
live unmarried, so they are all put away as soon as 
they are born. I wonder the -wives do not get up a 
little rebellion of their own. 

Wednesday, October 9. 

Sir E. Ryan, the chief justice, has come up from 
Calcutta on a hurried tour to see India, and has seen 
more in five weeks than we have by lumbering 
about in a camp for two years; and, moreover, 
we are all aghast and rather affronted at his looks. 
We meant him to come up with a parboiled Calcutta 



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327 



appearance, instead of which he looks younger and 
better than when we first saw him; he has a very 
good colour, and walks everybody to death. He 
came straight here after his journey up the hills, 
and met Gr. and me on the road, took one of our 
longest walks with us, and never would listen to our 
offer of the assistance of a pony. He is a pleasant 
man, a good Whig, and keeps up his English politics, 
and English books, and English laugh, and enjoys 
seeing everything, and wants a little cricket in the 
afternoon. He is staying with Mr. — — , but as the 
visit is by way of being to us, they dine here most 
days. 

•Sunday, Oct. 13. 

We have the deputation from Kurruck Singh up 
here now, and had a very pretty durbar yesterday, to 
which they brought their presents. We asked a few 
ladies who had never seen a durbar, to come, and put 
them behind the crowd, and they thought it a beauti- 
ful sight. While the durbar was going on, there 
came an express to Mr. A., saying that jSToor Mahal 
Singh, the heir-apparent, and Bhian Singh had gone 
into Kurruck's durbar and shot at a favourite of his, 
Cheyt Singh, who was sitting so close to his master 
that some of the shot went into Kurruck's foot ; he 
begged them to kill him and spare his favourite, but 
they finished Cheyt with their sabres. We give the 
soldiers a ball to-morrow, and on Tuesday begin to 
pack up. I keep thinking it is the first step towards 
going home to you, dear M., but I wish you lived 
more handy like. 

My journey will be shorter than the others'. I leave 



328 



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the camp at Agra: as G. and the rest of the party 
leave the camp at Gwalior, and will not be at Calcutta 
till the beginning of April, I shall be housed at the 
end of February. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

Simla, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 1839. 
It is rather soon to begin again, but habit is every- 
thing, and there is a little more to say while the Sikhs 
are here. Our ball for them last night went off very 
well. I had the verandahs all closed in with branches 
of trees, and carpets put down and lamps put up, and 
the house looked a great deal larger. The chiefs were 
in splendid gold dresses, and certainly very gentleman- 
like men. They sat bolt upright on their chairs with 
their feet dangling, and I dare say suffered agonies 
from cramp. C. said we saw them amazingly divided 
between the necessity of listening to G. and their 
native feelings of not seeming surprised, and their cu- 
riosity at men and women dancing together. I think 
that they learned at least two figures of the quadrilles 
by heart, for I saw Gholab Singh, the commander of 
the Goorcherras, who has been with Europeans before, 
expounding the dancing to the others. 

The two chief sirdars were not even at Lahore when 
we were there. I thought they might eventually be 
taught to flirt, and wanted Mr. A. to try and make up a 
match between the old fakeer and old Miss J., who is 
between sixty and seventy, and something like the 



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329 



fakeer. Mr. A. was quite willing, but unluckily 
Miss J. did not come. 

Thursday, Oct, 17. 

The gentlemen got up some racing yesterday, to 
which the Sikhs came, and we all went. Racing is one 
of the few amusements they can enter into, and they 
were very much amused. G. gave a silver hookah to 
be run for, and the aides-de-camp a silver cheroot box, 
&c. The Sikhs saw us drawing a lottery for the 
races and enquired what it meant, and in their quick 
way set one up. Lehna Singh sent word to twelve of 
his guards to start ; wrote all their names in Persian 
on bits of paper, and said with a complacent smile, 
( Lotteree.' 

Their races were very funny. They started as fast 
as the horse could go — no Sikh horse can gallop 100 
yards — and then they trotted on, or walked, or stopped ; 
but towards the winning-post the first man always 
came in waving his whip over his head, looking in a 
prodigious hurry, with the others at least a quarter of 
a mile behind. They rode with their heavy shields and 
helmets on, and one man in chain-armour, which 
helped to break his horse's leg. However, G. gave 
him a new horse, and gave the four winners a pair of 
shawls each, so they thought English racing quite 
delightful. 

Friday, Oct. 18. 

The Sikhs had their farewell durbar to-day. They 
are in such a fright, poor people ! at going back to 
their disturbed country, that they begged for even one 
of the Government House hirkarus as a protection. 



330 



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They say they were sent by Kurruck Singh, whose 
power has now passed into the hands of his son and 
his minister, and they don't know what may be done to 
them when they go back. 

Koor Mahal and Dhian Singh called before them 
the uncle of Cheyt Singh, whose murder I mentioned 
to you in my last Journal, and after trying to make 
him confess where some pearls and jewels were hidden, 
killed him with their own hands, and threw his body 
out before the palace gate. Another chief, they say, 
killed himself in prison, but others say they poisoned 
him. The Punjab is fast returning to the barbarous 
state from which Runjeet redeemed it. 

The native writer describes it all so like some of the 
old Jewish troubles. He says : ' The Maharajah refused 
comfort, and asked if he were really king, or if the 
power had left him ; and the Koonwur (Noor Mahal) 
and the Rajah answered, that he was the Lord of the 
World, and that they were his slaves. The Maharajah 
went out to take the air on his elephant, and the Koon- 
wur sat behind him and drove the flies from him with a 
chowry, and the Rajah carried a chattah (an umbrella) 
over his head ' — and then they came back and impri- 
soned and beat more of his servants. 

AVe had some more ladies to see the durbar, and the 
secretaries have become resigned to that innovation, 
and think it rather improves the appearance of things. 

Wednesday, Oct. 23. 

P. returned from Cashmere to-day, much sooner 
than we expected him. He walked into my room just 
as I was o^oino; to dress, and I should not have known 



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331 



him the least if I had met him out of doors. He said 
he had spoken to several people, who had not made 
him out at all. His hair is quite long, hanging about 
his shoulders, and his beard half-way down to his waist. 
It is a mark of respectability in the countries he has 
travelled through, but it looks ruffianish here : how- 
ever, it was rather becoming. P. gives such an 
account of the shawls that are making for us in Cash- 
mere, and he has brought drawings of them that make 
one's shawl-mouth water. 

Hurripore, Wednesday, Oct. 30. 

There ! I have seen the last of poor, dear Simla, 
except a distant glimpse from the Fir Tree Bungalow, 
where I shall sleep to-morrow. 

This place is so very low, and hot accordingly. I 
had always settled to make my journey to Barr last 
four days. More than three hours of a jonpaun knocks 
me up, and the last three days I have unluckily been 
ailing. I should not have set off yesterday afternoon, 
only that my bed and sofa and every atom of clothes 
had gone on in the morning, and three hours of any 
pain can be borne. So in spite of a desperate head- 
ache, I started for Syree, with Dr. D., Giles, and 
Wright, meaning to get into bed the moment I arrived. 
But I had the sad spectacle of my bed set down about 
half-way, and the coolies smoking and cooking their 
dinner round it. However, Rosina had made me up a 
bed on a native charpoy that did to lie and excruciate 
my head upon, till the bed came up, and the doctor 
made me up a composing draught; but such a night 
as I had ! I had not tasted anything for thirty-six 

i 



332 



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hours, and about ten an insane desire for a sandwich 
seized me : so, though I had heard the cooks with all 
their chattels set off for this place two hours before, I 
called to the hirkaru who was sleeping at the door, 
and told him to tell Giles I wanted a sandwich. Hir- 
karus are good for carrying a note, or a parcel, but are 
never trusted with a message. After making me 
repeat sandwich six times, and evidently thinking it 
meant a friend from England, or some new medicine, 
I heard him repeating as he walked off round the bun- 
galow, ( Lady Sahib sant vich muncta ' (muncta mean- 
ing : wants,'' and the only word that we have all learnt, 
showing what wanting creatures we are). Giles made 
up a mixture of leg of chicken and dust, which was 
satisfying under the circumstances, but still my head 
raved: and having heard the jackals (which do not 
exist at Simla) tearing up a dog, I had a vague idea 
that the sandwich was made of the remains of Chance, 
which gave it an unpleasant flavour. 

Then the Pariah dogs fought, and the A.s' coolies 
arrived with all their things and insisted on bringing 
them into the bungalow. 

Then the Paharrees, at least 500 of them, who were 
resting on the hill, began calling to their friends, 500 
more, who were cooking in the valley. One man was 
calling for his friend Buddooah. ( Oh ! Buddooah! 
Buddoo ! ' to which somebody responded, ( Oh ! Al- 
mooah ! ' and it was not Almooah who had called ; so 
then the caller began again at the top of his voice : 
6 Oh ! Buddooah ! ' and the answer was, ' Oh ! Culloo ! ' 
but it was not Culloo, by any manner of means ; so 
then he called again, till he had woke every Buddooah 

* 



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333 



in camp, and I don't believe he ever found the right 
one at last. 

However, I arrived at the conclusion that Bud- 
dooah must be Hindustani for i Jack,' it seemed such a 
common name, and that is a great discovery ; and I 
also settled that, if I had had a stick and no headache, 
I would have gone and taught that man to carry his 
own messages, and not stand there screaming all night. 

The conclusion of the night was, that a rat ran over 
my bed and across my throat, and did not the least 
care for my trying to catch him. We came on early 
this morning, and my head is beginning to improve. 

Fir Tree Bungalow, Friday, Nov. 1. 

F. and G. and P. arrived to breakfast to-day, and 
this afternoon we all go down to our deplorable tents. 
There is a distant view of Simla from this place, and 
very pretty it looks. Giles is taking a sentimental fare- 
well of it through a telescope, and lamenting over his 
lost garden : ( But one comfort, ma'am, is that I have 
brought away my favourite gardener to look after your 
pheasants.' I am trying to carry down to Calcutta 
some of the Himalayan pheasants, to be shipped off to 
your Charlie the moment we arrive. 

They are such beautiful creatures, the whole bird of 
bronzed blue, like the breast of a peacock, except the 
tail and wings, which are of a reddish brown, and they 
have a bright green tuft on their heads. I have had 
some of them two months, and they have grown tame, 
but at first they are very apt to die of fright. Yesterday, 
when I took up the last new one to feed it, it fainted 
away and died soon after. However, I still have five, 



334 



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and they have a snug little house, carried by two men, 
and a little tent of netting, which is pitched in front of 
it when we halt, so that they may run in and out with- 
out being touched. Every precaution is taken, but 
still there will be many a slip between this pheasant 
cup and Charlie's lip, I am afraid. 



CHAPTER XLY. 

Pinjore, Sunday, Nov. 3, 1839. 

Yes ! we are in for it now. All the old discomfort, 
and worse ; for we left the nice autumnal air blowing 
at the Fir Tree, with the fern waving and the trees 
looking red, and brown, and green, and beautiful — ■ 
and now we are in all our old camel-dust and noise, 
the thermometer at 90° in the tents, and the punkah 
going. We received the officers of the escort and 
their wives, after church, which was hot work, but I 
am rather glad we have so many ladies in camp : it 
makes it pleasanter for the gentlemen, and at the 
different stations it is very popular. Last year there 
were only F. and me. In ten days, when we shall 
have a fresh cavalry regiment, there will be at least 
twenty, and about twelve of them dancers, which 
is lucky, for we hear of an awful number of balls in 
prospect. 

They were a ladylike set that we saw to-day ; one 
of them a striking likeness of you — a thing that I 
deny to everybody else, but still I do see it; and 
perhaps it is better than nothing. 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



Munny Majra, Monday, Nov. 4. 

We began riding part of the march to-day, and 
the horses go very well, considering they have had 
a rest for seven months. My horse is such an 
angel ! I really like him with a sort of minor Chance 
sentiment. 

Umballa, Thursday, Nov. 7- 

E. N. and Mr. G. met us this morning, and rode in 
with us, and in the afternoon we went to see E. N.'s 
house, which he has furnished very nicely, quite in his 
mother's style. 

A Captain B. arrived from Cabul, with one or two 
others, and are to march with us to Kurnaul. They 
all deny the report of the army ever having suffered 
further distress than a want of wine and cigars, and 
they are all looking uncommonly fat. 

Captain D., of Gr.'s body-guard, brought back three 
of the sheep with which he left us last year, and the 
16th are bringing back in safety their pack of fox- 
hounds. That does not look like havine; undergone 
great privation. Captain B. brought me two shawls 
from Sir W. C, very pretty ones — at least we should 
have thought them so, before we were spoiled by 
plenty. 

Shah-i-bad. 

Mrs. B. arrived last night to meet her husband. 
She did not know he was come, so she went straight 
to E. N.'s bungalow — the usual method with ladies 
travelling dak — and he found her there when he went 
home from dinner. 



336 



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He said he liacl given up the house to her and gone 
into a tent, and that the two little children had arrived 
with their dear little stomachs much discomposed by 
the journey, and had spoilt the sofa whose cover I had 
admired in the morning. 

This was the place where I bought my little girls 
last year, and it is a curious coincidence, that their 
nominal father, who went to the Punjab and took 
service with Shere Singh, has left him, and arrived 
at this place last night, found Rosina's tent, woke her 
up in the middle of the night, and the little girls too, 
and cried and sobbed and kissed the children, and 
wanted very much to have them back again. They 
are so afraid he will carry them off, that they will not 
lose sight of Rosina for a moment. Shere Singh gave 
this man a rupee a day to teach his cook English 
cookery like ours. The man had only waited at our 
table, so his imitation of an English cuisine must have 
been faint and nasty. 

Tkanjou, Saturday, Nov. 9. 

The dear overland post came in just as we came 
off the march, and were sitting in front of the tents, 
sipping gritty tea, dusty up to the eyes, and with a 
wretched i up-before-breakfast ' feeling, which evinces 
itself in different manners : X. and Z. sneeze at each 
other; W. O. smokes a double allowance; F. suffers 
from hunger ; I yawn ; G. groans and turns black ; 
the doctor scolds C. because the road was dusty, and 
A. rushes off to business ; but this had bit was cut 
short by that packet. 

I know so well all you say, dearest, about these 



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337 



weary feelings of life ; not that you have any right to 
them, because you have so many young lives growing 
up round you — first volumes of novels that you ought 
to carry on to third volumes. 

I have a right to feel vapid and tired and willing to 
lie down and rest ; for during the last four years my 
life has been essentially an artificial life ; and, more- 
over, from my bad health it is physically fatiguing, 
and I feel I am flagging much more than I ever ex- 
pected to do. I should like to see you and to be at 
home again; but I have no wish to begin a fresh 
course of life — not from any quarrel with it, for I 
know nobody who is in fact more spoiled, as far as 
worldly prosperity goes. I never wish for a thing 
here that I cannot have, and Gr., who has always been 
a sort of idol to me, is, I really think, fonder of me 
than ever, and more dependent on me, as I am his 
only confidant. I feel I am of use to him, and that 
I am in my right place when I am by his side. More- 
over, his government here has hitherto been singularly 
prosperous and his health very good, so that there is 
nothing outward to find fault with, and much to 
be thankful for. Still, I have had enough of it, 
and as people say in ships, there is a difficulty in 
c carrying on.' 

6 My blood creeps now only in drops through its 
courses, and the heart that I had of old, stirs feebly 
and heavily within me.' It is the change from youth 
to age, and made in unfamiliar scenes, so that it is the 
more felt. I never had any opinion of 

The glories serenely adorning the close of our day, 
The calm eve of our night ; . . . . 

Z 



338 UP THE COUNTRY, 

and never wanted the caution, — 

Nor from the dregs of life hope to receive 

What the first sprightly ruBiiirigs would not give. 

The dregs never held out any promise, but the first 
sprightly runnings gave a good deal more happiness 
than people generally allow. I am quite sure that 
you and I feel unusually detached from the future, 
from having enjoyed our young days so eagerly. 

They were very happy lives ; and very often, when 
I am too tired to do anything else, I can think over 
particular days, with nothiDg but high spirits to recom- 
mend them, that are still quite refreshing. Days 
when we were making rush-mats in the garden ; then 
your first ( coming out ' at Oxford, with Lady Gren- 
ville ; the day Mr. C. gave me my parrot, in what we 
called a gold cage ; then, later on, visits to Longleat, 
and a sort of humble adoration of Lady B. and Lady 
G. ; and then, of all the fortnights in life I should 

like to do over again, that fortnight at Burgh ; 

meeting us on his little black pony, as you 

brought me back from Thames Ditton, and saving 
me some heath and some bluebells ; and then the fun 
of peering out of your window, to see him on the 
lawn. I could draw his picture now quite easily. 
Then there were some good passages at Neasdon, 
when T. and E. were such dear, little, small things ; 
so stupid of them to grow up — they should never 
have consented to pass four years old. However, it 
is of no use going over these things ; only, when 
you say you are rather tired, I merely answer — so 
am I! 



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339 



God bless you, dearest. In two days we shall be 
at Kurnaul, where we shall halt the rest of the week ; 
such a dusty, hot place. I never meant when I 
started in life to march three times through Kurnaul. 
However, it is all on the way home. 



CHAPTER XL VI. 

Camp, Kurnaul, Nov. 13, 1839. 

We arrived here yesterday morning, and it is horrible 
to think how by constantly campaigning about we 
have become ( Kurnaul's tired denizens.' This is the 
third time we have been here ; the camp is always 
pitched in precisely the same place ; the camp fol- 
lowers go and cook at their old ashes; Chance roots 
up the bones he buried last year ; we disturb the same 
ants' nests ; in fact, this is our ( third Kurnaul season,' 
as people would say of London or Bath. 

We had the same display of troops on arriving, 
except that a bright yellow General N. has taken his 
liver complaint home, and a pale primrose General D., 
who has been renovating for some years at Bath, 
has come out to take his place. We were at home 
in the evening, and it was an immense party, but 
except that pretty Mrs. J. who was at Simla, and 
who looked like a star amongst the others, the women 
were all plain. 

I don't wonder that if a tolerable-looking girl comes 
up the country that she is persecuted with proposals. 

z 2 



840 



TJP THE COUNTRY. 



There were several gentlemen at Kurnaul avowedly on 
the look-out for a wife. 

That Mrs. we always called i the little corpse ' 

is still at Kurnaul. She came and sat herself down 
by me, upon which Mr. K., with great presence of 
mind, offered me his arm, and asked if I would not 
like to walk, and said to G. he was taking me away 
from that corpse. i You are quite right,' G. said ; 6 it 
would be very dangerous sitting on the same sofa ; we 
don't know what she died of.' 

Gr. gives a great man dinner to-day, which is 
refreshing to his womenkind, who may dine quietly 
in their own tents. 

Friday, Nov. 15. 

There were some races early yesterday morning, 
to which they expected us to go ; so I got up early 
and went with G., and luckily they were more amusing 
than most Indian races. Captain Z. revels in a halt 
at a great station, calls at everybody's house, eats 
everybody's breakfast, and asks himself to dinner 
everywhere ; also rides everybody's horses, and as, 
when he is well fed and thickly clothed, he weighs 
about four pounds, he is a valuable jockey, and he won 
two races to his great delight. 

The last race was run by fifteen of the grasscutters' 
ponies, ridden by their owners. These ponies are 
always skeletons, and their riders wear no great 
quantity of drapery, partly because they have no 
means of buying it, and then it is not their custom. 
They ride without saddles, and go as fast as they can, 
with their legs and arms flying in the air, looking like 



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341 



spiders riding on ants. One pony which was not 
particularly lame, was reckoned so very superior, that 
all the other riders insisted on his carrying two grass- 
cutters, so the poor animal cantered in with two men 
on his back. I was so sleepy at the ball last night ; I 
had sat two hours by K., knowing I should have to go 
in to supper with him, and at last, in a fit of despera- 
tion, asked Colonel L., one of our camp, to give me 
his arm. He is a regular misanthrope, and a professed 
woman-hater, and never even will call on us, though 
he has to come to the house every day to see Gr., and 
he looked astounded at my assurance; however, he 
bore it very well, and was rather pleasant in a bitter 
kind of way. We did not get home till past one. 
To-day we have a small dinner, chiefly of people who 
have come into camp from a distance. 

Sunday, Nov, 17. 

We left Kurnaul yesterday morning. Little Mrs. 
J. was so unhappy at our going, that we asked her to 
come and pass the day here, and brought her with us. 
She went from tent to tent and chattered all day, and 

visited her friend Mrs. , who is with the camp. 

I gave her a pink silk gown, and it was altogether a 
very happy day for her, evidently. It ended in her 
going back to Kurnaul on my elephant with E. 'N. by 
her side, and Mr. J. sitting behind, and she had never 
been on an elephant before, and thought it delightful. 
She is very pretty, and a good little thing, apparently, 
but they are very poor, and she is very young and 
lively, and if she falls into bad hands, she would 
soon laugh herself into foolish scrapes. At present 



342 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



the husband and wife are very fond of each other, 
but a girl who marries at fifteen hardly knows what 
she likes. 

Paniput. Tuesday, Sox. 19. 

I am so tired of being always at Paniput : are not 
you tired of hearing of it ? We are constantly drop- 
ping in there. There is one European living here, a 

Mr. , the image of Jenkins, the dancing-master, 

for which simple reason we have always liked him. 
He has no other striking merit, but there is a halo 
of 6 Prince of Wales's step ' and 6 the slow movement' 
floating round him which, is rather interesting. 

We went to see his gaol, two miles off, and the first 
shower of rain of the season chose to come just as we 
were half-way there, on the elephants. A howdah is 
a sort of open cage without a top, and nobody had 
thought of a cloak, so it was a pleasant expedition. 
Paniput has had several famous battles fought at, or 
near it, and there is a grand tradition of one battle 
where 200,000 men fought on each side, and four 
were left alive. That is something like fighting : but 
happily it is not true. 

Friday, Nov. 22. 

We have had two or three most uneventful marches, 
and Sergeant H., who goes on the day before, always 
-ends back the same report, i Road rough and very 
dusty," or to vary it, Road very rough and dusty. 5 
Hovrever, Ave are always able to ride half of the way, 
which is a great help. 

To-day we came over a wretched road and a bridge 
with one arch broken and no parapet, and as Sergeant 



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343 



H. reported, i Bridge in a worse state, if possible, than 
last year; quite unsafe for the carriage.' After we 
come in to camp, we generally all sit in front of the 
tents and drink tea. The gentlemen come and ask 
for a cup and talk over the disasters of the road, and 
it is rather a gossiping time; particularly when en- 
livened by Mr. S., who is always like a sharp con- 
tradictory character in a farce, but before he has had 
his breakfast he is perfectly rabid. To-day he began 
as usual. 

' How slowly you must have come.' 
( The road was so bad,' I said. 

e Yes, so everybody chooses to say. I thought it 
the best road we have had, much better than any of 
C.'s famous smooth roads.' 

c Did you come safely over that bridge ? ' 

e What was to hinder me ? I cannot think why 
people find fault with that bridge, one of the best 
bridges I ever saw.' 

( Except that it has a broken arch and no parapet,' 
I suggested. 

6 Well ! nobody wants to drive on a parapet. I 
think parapets are perfectly useless.' 

Then C.'s palanquin went by, and as he was stand- 
ing with us, Mr. S. took the opportunity of asking, 
e What wretches of children are those, I wonder ? ' 
( Mine,' said C, i or you would have had no pleasure 
in asking.' 

It was such nonsense ! Little 6 Missey C is the 
smallest, prettiest little fairy I ever saw, and the pet 
of the whole camp; they are really beautiful children, 
and S. knew the palanquin perfectly. I told him 



344 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



at last he was just what our governess used to call 
1 a child that had got out of bed the wrong way,' 
and recommended his having his breakfast as soon 
as possible, and he owned, he thought it advisable 
himself. 

Delhi, Monday, Nov. 25. 

I am glad to be at dear Delhi again : it is the only- 
place in the plains I have ever seen worth looking at, 
and it looks grander and more ( great Babylonish ' than 
ever. We arrived on Saturday morning and rode in 
through an immense crowd, for besides all the regi- 
ments here, people have come from all parts just to 
ask for what they can get ; appointments are filled up 
in Xovember, because all the sick people who have 
been knocked up by the hot season get their furloughs 
for going home. 

Cr. hates Delhi from the very circumstance of all 
these applicants. We had an immense party on 
Saturday evening, and nobody but ourselves knows 
who composed it. 

There were young ladies from Meerut come for the 
chance of two balls, and all the ladies of our camp, 
and a great many from Kurnaul, and several young 
civilians who really had come in from their solitary 
stations to look for wives. 

F. has caught such a cold she cannot go out. We 
never can settle whether we would rather have a 
slight illness, or go through all the festivities of a 
Station. 

F. has not tried it before, but she now thinks she 
prefers the cold, only she has to6 much pain in her 
bones. 



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345 



The people will not tempt us with many pretty 
things to buy, or else we have grown particular. 

Tuesday, Nov. 26. 

We had a great dinner yesterday, and Gr. and I 
went to the Station ball, which was very well managed. 
I do not know why one ball should be better than 
another ; as far as the dinners are concerned, I think 
they are all equally tiresome, but balls do differ. 

This was a very dancing business, and we did not 
get away till one. It went on till three, and I have 
been obliged to represent to our engaged aides-de-camp 
how very wrong it is of them to dance three times 
with the same girl — -such a waste of time to all parties. 

P. is quite altered since he has been engaged, and 
will talk and joke and dance in the most debonnair 
manner. I suggested to him the propriety of my 
writing to Miss S. about his dancing three times with 
the same young lady, but he says he danced once 
under Captain L. E.'s name, and that he got up early 
to write an account of himself to i Clarissa ' this morn- 
ing, mentioning that he had no pleasure in society 
whatever ! 

I have just been to ask Gr. to give F. and me two 
rings on which we have fixed our small affections, to 
which he was quite agreeable ; but he had a lavish 
idea about buying for us two diamond bracelets, that 
a man from Lucknow has brought. I think that 
would be rather indefensible. However, they are gone 
to be valued. 



346 



UP THE COUNTRY; 



CHAPTER XL VII. 

Kootub, Wednesday, Nov. 27 ; 1839. 

"We made this our first march, as most of the camp 
have not seen it. It is the most magnificent pillar, I 
suppose, in the world, and looks as if it had been built 
yesterday ; but all the fine ruins about it have crumbled 
away sadly, even since we were here two years ago. 

Those diamond bracelets were not worth half what 
the man asked for them, which I am rather glad of, as 
I think it would have been a waste of money, and we 
do not want more trinkets. 

G. and I had to go last night to a play, got up by 
amateurs, which was rather a failure, because the chief 
character did not happen to know a single word of his 
part, and that put out all the others, but they thought 
it rather good themselves. 

This morning the General insisted on having all 
the troops paraded at six in the morning, and so, as F. 
still has her cold, and Gr. hates being left by himself, I 
had to ride out of camp. It was nearly dark, and they 
fired the salutes right into the horses' faces, and then 
poked their colours into their eyes, and drummed ( God 
save the King ' into their ears, all which induced them 
to prance. I thought it rather dangerous, very noisy, 
and extremely tiresome, and I could not think of a 
word to say to General M. that I had not said at least 
eight times over in the last three days, so I was glad 
when he thought he had convoyed us out of his grounds, 
and if we ever go back to Delhi again I hope there will 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



347 



be a new General, so that the same topics may serve 
me again and look fresh. 

I had a great mind to tell him that I felt very ill, 
which was quite true, but as the water at Delhi is 
invariably a rank poison that would have been nothing 
new. 

Bullumghur, Friday, Nov. 29. 
We had made a pretty arrangement yesterday to go 
to a small private camp at Toglichabad; a very old town 
with some splendid ruins about it, and there had been a 
road made for us, and supplies sent ; but then F.'s cold 
was still bad, and my Delhi illness was worse than ever, 
so we gave it up, though it looked inconsistent and 
foolish after all the fuss that had been made, and X. 
says there was a quantity to see and sketch. I have 
only been able to make four sketches since we left 
Simla, for dearth of subjects ; but I am glad we did 
not go, I had such a headache. Half the camp was 
poisoned at Delhi. 

Sunday, Bee. 1. 

We are all well again ; and just think of the pleasure 
of the October mail arriving this morning, only a fort- 
night after the last. G. has a letter of the 16th, only- 
just six weeks old, but there is some mistake about 
yours and the letters of the family in general. They 
are sent off a fortnight too soon : at least we always 
have public letters and papers dated a fortnight later, 
and those newspapers, besides taking off the edge of 
the news for half the next month, put me in a fright. 
I am so afraid, after hearing that you were well and 
prosperous the 8th of September, of finding in the 



348 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



' Morning Chronicle' of October 12 th, that C. D., 
Esq., who lives not 100 miles from Newsalls, was taken 
before the magistrates for beating M. his wife, and 
tearing her hair and her best shawl ; or else that your 
new honse in Stratton Street had been burnt down 
before you could insure it, and that you had lost your 
little all, and perhaps were found begging in the streets, 
surrounded by your nine children, and causing an 
obstruction at Hyde Park Corner. Do you know, 
that whenever I read a heap of English papers at once, 
' indeed, indeed I'm very very sick,' there is such a 
quantity of crime. This time the cruelty to children 
and apprentices has put me in a frenzy, and there are 
at least eight exemplary wives murdered by their hus- 
bands, and one murderer gets off with six months* 
imprisonment, because his lawyer chooses to make a 

pert attack on Lord , which pleases the Eecorder — 

so like English justice. I am also very low about 
politics. I hate all those last changes, and I wish the 
TThigs would go quietly and respectably out in a body, 
and leave the Tories and Radicals to fight it out. 

Wednesday, Dec. 4. 

Last night, when we were playing at whist, I saw 
X. fido-etino; about behind Gr.'s chair with a note in 
his hand, and began to think you were ill, and had 
sent for me to your tent, or something of that sort; 
but it turned out to be an express with another little 
battle, and a most successful one. The Khan of 
Khelat was by way of being our ally and assistant, 
and professing friendship ; did himself the pleasure of 
cutting off the supplies of the army when it was on its 



UP THE COUNTRY. 349 

way to Cabul ; set his followers on to rob the camp ; 
corresponded with Dost Mahomed, &c. 

There was no time to fight with him then, and I 
suppose he was beginning to think himself secure ; but 
G. directed the Bombay army, on its way home, to 

settle this little Khelat trouble. General was 

led to suppose his place was not a strong one, and took 
only 1,000 men with him, but he found Khelat a very 
strong fort with plenty of guns, and the Khan at the 
head of 2,000 soldiers. It was all done in the Ghuznee 
manner — the gates blown in and the fort stormed — but 
the fighting was very severe. The Khan and his prin- 
cipal chiefs died sword in hand, which was rather too 
fine a death for such a double traitor as he has been ; 
and one in six of our troops were either killed or 
wounded, which is an unusual proportion. They found 
in the town a great many of our camels and much of 
the property that had been pillaged from the army. 
Also there will be a great deal of prize money. Another 
man has been put on the Khelat throne, so that busi- 
ness is finished. 

Bindrabund, Saturday, Dec. 7. 

This is a famous Hindu place, and we have come a 
march out of the way to look at it, partly because there 
is a great deal to see, and then that the sepoys and 
half our camp may perform their devotions. The 
Hindu devotions are always inexplicable, except in 
the simple fact that the Brahmins cheat them out of 
a quantity of money, and our Mussulmaun servants 
cannot be sufficiently contemptuous to-day as to the 
state of affairs. 



350 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



Monkeys and peacocks are sacred here, and conse- 
quently abound ; and then they have a tradition that 
Krishna (who seems to have been a larking sort of 
Apollo) played various pranks here, and, amongst other 
little jokes, stole all the clothes of the wives of the 
cowherds when they went into the river to bathe, and 
carried them to the top of a tree, to which they were 
obliged to come and beg, before he would give them 
back. He is adored here for the delicacy of this 
freak, and a temple has been built to commemorate it. 

We went yesterday to visit all the temples and ruins 

under the guidance of , who led us quite wrong 

and wasted our time at modern temples, when we 
wanted to see the old ruins, but he rather made up for 
it by taking us in boats on the Jumna to look at the 
ghauts. However, the whole thing was done in state, 
with tribes of elephants, and dust, and all the camp, 
and the secretaries, who never let us say or see any- 
thing comfortably ; so F. and I settled to stay behind 
to-day, when the camp moved, and to pass our morning 
in an old Jain temple of singular beauty, red granite 
magnificently carved, but the roof and half the heads 
of the statues were knocked off by Aurungzebe in a 
fit of Mussulmaun bigotry. X. and P. stayed with us, 
and we all settled ourselves in different corners of the 
building, with a quantity of grains and sweetmeats in 
the middle, to keep the monkeys quiet. Our breakfast 
was laid out in a sort of side aisle of grotesque Hindu 
columns, and at each column was a servant with a long 
stick keeping off the monkeys from the tea and choco- 
late. One very enterprising monkey rushed down and 
carried off my Indian rubber, which is a great loss to 



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351 



me, and I trust it disagreed with him. It was an 
elaborate building to sketch, and we were nearly four 
hours about it, but we all succeeded more or less ; and 
it was so cool and dark in the temple, it made it quite 
a pleasant morning, to say nothing of a brass antique 
teapot and some lovely little brass goats which X. 
bought for me coming back. 

Muttra, Sunday, Dec. 8. 

We came onrin the evening to camp, and found G. 
at a durbar receiving a Yakeel from the Bhurtpore 
Rajah and a visit from Luckund Chund, the richest 
banker in India. He has two millions of money in 
Company's paper at Calcutta, and only draws the 
interest once in four years. He is a jeweller also by 
trade, and has some very handsome emeralds in camp 
to dispose of. He brought 101 trays of presents, 
which gladdened Mr. C.'s heart. We had a large 
congregation this morning, as there is a troop of 
artillery here, and the English soldiers looked so well 
and homelike at church. 

Groyerchin, Monday, Dec. 9. 

These have been very good sight-seeing days, and I 
think I like Hindus just now better than Mussul- 
mauns. They consider trees sacred, and that makes 
their country so much prettier. We went to a beau- 
tiful tomb this afternoon surrounded by old temples 
and tombs belonging to the Bhurtpore Rajah. The 
inside of one temple is painted with the original siege 
of Bhurtpore and Lord Lake running away — the Euro- 
peans were originally painted running away without 
their heads, but that has been rectified. Then we 



352 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



went to what they call a chuttree, or something of that 
kind; a place where there has been a suttee, and there 
are some lovely temples built over the ashes. There 
never is time enough for sketching, which is a pity. 



CHAPTEE XL VIII. 

Dieg, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 1839. 

The Bhurtpore Rajah came out to meet G. to-day 
with a pretty retinue, odd-looking carriages and horses 
covered with gold, but he is a fat, hideous young man 
himself. TTe went in the afternoon to see the palace 
at Dieg, which the rajahs used to live in before the 
siege of Bhurtpore, but they make no use of it now, 
which is a pity. The gardens are intersected in all 
directions by fountains, and the four great buildings at 
each side of the garden, which make up their palaces, 
are great masses of open colonnades with baths, or 
small rooms screened off by carved white marble slabs, 
and the fountains play all round the halls, so that even 
in the hot winds, Mr. H. says, it is cool in the centre 
of these halls. It was a very pretty sight to-day, from 
the crowds of people mixed up with the spring of the 
waters ; and the Mahrattas wear such beautiful scarlet 
turbans covered with gold or silver cords, that they 
showed it off well. 

There is a Colonel E. come into camp to-day : he is 
the Resident at Grwalior, and is come to fetch us. He 
is about the largest man I ever saw, and always brings 



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353 



his own chair with him, because he cannot fit into any 
other. He has lived so entirely with natives that I 
fancy he very seldom sits on a chair at all, and I 

suppose he is, as = says, very shy of white females, 

for it was impossible to get an answer from him. It 
is a curious fact that the very * * 

Khoomberee, Wednesday, Dec. 11. 

I would give anything to know what curious fact I 
was going to tell you. You never will know it now, 
that is certain. To finish off Colonel E., I must men- 
tion that the officer who commands his escort is called 
Snook, and that his godfathers, to make it worse, called 
him Violet. He is a little man, about five feet high, 
and is supposed to have called out three people for 
calling him Snooks instead of Snook. I am giving up 
my plan of leaving G. at Agra. He has cut off a 
month of his tour, and means to go straight to Calcutta 
from Gwalior, which is seven marches longer than 
my road, and with six days there, he would only be 
thirteen days later than me; the old khansamah has 
set his face steadily against it. He says, I have no 
business to leave the Lord Sahib, and that if I take 
away one steamboat full of baggage and servants, he 
cannot make show enough at Gwalior. Moreover, I 
am so well this year, I have no excuse for idleness, 
when it would be so generally inconvenient ; and I do 
not like to leave G. and F. for two months, now that 
it only saves thirteen days. We shall all be at Calcutta 
by the first of March now. 



A A 



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UP THE COUNTRY, 



Bhurtpore, Thursday, Dee. 12. 

We had some cheeta hunting on the way here. An 
telopes abound, there are hundreds of them to be seen 
at a time; the cheetas are put in carts like the common 
hackeries the natives use, and which the antelopes are 
accustomed to see, so they do not get much out of the 
way, and when the cart is within 400 yards, the cheeta's 
hood is taken off, and he makes two or three bounds 
and generally knocks down the antelope. If he fails 
after a few bounds, he gets disgusted and comes back 
to the cart. There were two or three good chases this 
morning but no antelope killed, which was rather a 
blessing. We went so much out of the road, that the 
regiments and all their baggage got before us, and we 
could not go on in the carriage, and had to ride seven 
miles which I thought long. The Bhurtpore Rajah 
came to the durbar in the afternoon. He is the ugliest 
and fattest young man I ever saw. A small face that 
takes up the usual space of the chin, and all the rest is 
head. He is very black, marked with the small-pox, 
and can hardly waddle for fat, and is only twenty-one. 
He was just six years old when Lord Combermere put 
him on his throne. 

Bhurtpore, Friday, Dec. 13. 

The rajah is supposed to have the best shooting in 
India, and was to give Gr. the most delightful sport, so 
there was such a fuss to be oif at six in the morning, 
and such a tribe of elephants, and such jealousy as to 
who was to go, and how many, and perhaps a slight 
wonder as to how all the game was to be disposed of; 
and they were out five hours, and came back in a frenzy ; 



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355 



Gr. having shot one quail and a wild cat, and some one 
else a partridge, and another had seen a hare, and the 
rajah had said at the end that he hoped the Lord Sahib 
was' 6 bhote razee,' which means more than quite de- 
lighted with his day's sport. I think he must be facetious 
though he does not look so. Mr. R. stayed behind to 
let F. and me see some hawking, and we took Mrs. C. 
and Mrs. R. and several of the officers and went into a 
boat with a large raised platform, and the men with 
hawks went wading into the water and put up wild 
ducks which the hawks invariably caught. We could 
not complain of want of sport, but it is rather a butcher- 
ing business. 

Futtelipore-Sickrey, Saturday, Dec. 14. 

We went to a beautiful fete last night, I never saw 
such illuminations anywhere. The whole town for two 
miles was lit up with straight rows of lamps, and at 
the palace there was a square of lights with four great 
arches three stories high, with doors and windows all 
built of lamps. The whole thing was very well ordered. 

The rajah took Gr. into an immense hall fitted up in 
the oddest way with French chandeliers of green and 
purple and yellow glass, as thick as they could be hung. 
Looking-glasses, and old-fashioned mirrors, and English 
prints on the wall. At the end there was the e chamber 
of dais,' very much painted and gilded, and raised three 
steps, and there we were all e set of a row,' G. on one 
side of the rajah and I on the other, and all our party 
in chairs, and his prime minister in the centre. All 
round the hall were the officers of the escort and their 
wives, and the Bhurtpore chiefs, and in the middle a 
very select assembly of nautch-girls. I never saw so 



356 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



orderly a native party. The rajah was very nervous 
at first, and his wide black face full of twitches, but 
Mr. H. says he was very much pleased with the suc- 
cess of his party, as it is the first time he has ever 
seemed to act for himself. It is always a dull job, ex- 
cept that I like to look at the nautching, which bores 
most people. The prime minister's little boy was in- 
troduced, a deformed little animal, and G. gave him a 
diamond ring, winch was unexpected and well taken. 

Then after G.'s trays of presents were taken away, 
there came in six for me and six for F. of rather nice 
little articles, dressing gowns of cloth of gold lined with 
cashemere, ivory chowries and fans, silver tissue for 
turbans — very pretty pickings if they had been private 
presents, but I saw C. twisting his moustaches in agonies, 
because they were not intrinsically worth the diamond 
rings we gave in exchange. I fancied the Rajah smelt 
very strongly of green fat, and as it was past eight, and 
we are used to early dinners in camp, I thought in my 
hunger, what a pity it was that we had not brought St. 
Cloup, who in half-an-hour would have warmed the 
rajah up into excellent turtle soup. We had a march 
of seventeen miles this morning, the longest we have 
ever had, so of course the wheel of the carriage locked, 
before we had gone a hundred yards. We have never 
had an accident before, this year. Webb had gone on 
with the key, so we took refuge on two elephants and 
jogged on four miles, and then overtook our tonjauns 
into which F. and I subsided. Then Mr.. H. came up ? 
driving Captain Z. in his buggy and set him down in 
the road and took me. Ten minutes after, Dr. D. caught 
up F. and drove her on. Mr. H. and I drove wildly 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



3c7 



on, looking for a conveyance for Gr. and thought our- 
selves uncommonly clever in overtaking and bringing 
together four of our carriage horses, and the palanquin 
carriage which is drawn by bullocks when it is not 
wanted, and then we found that the pole was sent on 
in a cart, and there was nothing but the bullock yoke, 
so we drove on discomfited. Then we came to an empty 
buggy and put a trooper to guard it and sent another 
back to tell Gr. it was there, but it turned out that it 

belonged to of the body guard, who has been in 

constant scrapes and is under arrest, so G. could not 
well take that. However, H. found his own horse for 
him, and altogether we got into camp in very good 
time, but half the people came in late with all sorts of 
difficulties. Camp conveyances are very good for ten 
or twelve miles, but always fail on a long march ; the 

bearers get tired and out of sorts. We pass Mrs. , 

your likeness, every morning, with her bearers guarded 
by two sepoys, because they will put down the tonjaun 
and run away. 

Merahoon, Monday. 

It was lucky we had our halt at Futtehpore-Sickrey. 
Except Delhi, it is the most interesting place we have 
seen, and there is more to sketch, and in these hurried 
journeys I do not think it any sin to sketch on Sunday. 
There is a tomb of marble here, carved like lace — it 
would make such a splendid dairy for Windsor Castle, 
it looks so cool and so royal — and there is a beautiful 
gateway, the arch of which is ninety feet high ; and 
then there are some remains of the Emperor Akbar, 
which give a good idea of the magnificent fellow he was. 



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The throne in which he sat to hear petitions stands in 
the centre of a hall, with a cross of stone balconies 
abutting from it, to four open arches. His ministers 
were placed at each end of that cross, their seats look- 
ing out on the courts below, so any grievance that was 
stated to them 3 or against them, they were obliged to 
announce at the full extent of their voices, else the 
emperor could not hear them, and the petitioner below 
was made certain that his grievance was rightly stated. 
This throne, &c, is most beautifully carved, as you will 
see whenever I send my sketch books home. There is 
also a lovely carved room, all over European devices, 
supposed to have been built by the directions of a fa- 
vourite wife, whom he imported from Constantinople. 
In the centre of the court, a pucheesee board (pucheesee 
is a sort of chess) is laid out in squares of marble, and 
there is a raised seat on which Akbar sat and played 
the games ; the pieces were all female slaves splendidly 
dressed, and whoever won carried off the sixteen ladies. 

Agra, "Wednesday, Dec. 18. 
"We came here yesterday and went off the same after- 
noon to see the Taj, which is quite as beautiful, even 
more so, than we had expected after all we have heard, 
and as we have never heard of anything else, that just 
shows how entirely perfect it must be. You must have 
heard and read enough about it, so I spare you any 
more, butit really repays agreat deal of the trouble of the 
journey. We passed the day in the tents, as they were 
more convenient for Gr.'s levee, and in the afternoon 
came on to this delightful house, which was Sir Charles 
Metcalfe's and is now Mr. H.'s, who has good-naturedly 



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entrenched himself in one wing and settled us in the 
rest. It is beautifully furnished, and so clean and 
quiet. I really love it — it is so pleasant not to feel 
dusty. 

Friday, Dec. 20. 

We went yesterday to see Secundra, where Akbar 
is buried, and his tomb of beautiful white marble is up 
four stories of grotesque buildings, well worth seeing ; 
so much so that, as G. had a durbar to-night and could 
not go out, F. and I went back alone, and had rather 
a rest, in sketching there, for two hours, but it is im- 
possible to make anything of these elaborate Mogul 
buildings, they are all lines and domes, and uncom- 
monly trying to the patience. We are attempting to 
buy Agra marbles and curiosities, but somehow cannot 
find many, and those we ordered before we came down 
are not half done, but they will be very pretty. I have 
got two little tombs, facsimiles of Shah Jehan's and his 
wife's, with all the same little patterns inlaid. Valu- 
able — but I wish they were not quite so dear. We 
were at home on Thursday night — there seem to be a 
great many people at Agra. Mrs. H., who was a Miss 
A., is very pretty and nice. We stay here till the 1st, 
and this fortnight of rest from tents is a great comfort. 
My small health is uncommonly good just now. 



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CHAPTER XLIX. 

Agra, Sunday, December 29, 1839. 

I have let a week pass by this time, partly because, 
since we have been here, we have given a ball and 
four large dinners, seen a great many sights, had a ball 
given to us and a dejeuner at the Taj, and also that an 
awful change has taken place in our plans, one that it 
makes me sick to think of. We are going to stay here 

for the next ten months : , to whom G. offered the 

Lieutenant-Governorship, and who knew all his plans, 
and who had acuteness enough to carry them on, began 
by accepting, and ended by declining in consequence 
of 6 domestic calamities which he was unable to explain.' 

They say that Mrs. is gone out of her mind. I 

really think it must have been at the notion of coming 
here. It is too late in the year to make any new 
arrangements, and there is so much of importance 
likely to occur in the Punjab where old Runjeet is a 
sad loss, and so much to watch over in Afghanistan, 
that G. decided on staying himself. Such a shock 
and such trouble ! We have at least three houses to 
build here for the European servants, the baboos, &c, 
and a house to repair for the aides-de-camp. Agra is 
avowedly the hottest place in India, and everybody 
says this is the hottest house in Agra, so there is a 
whole army of engineers now be^innino; to see what 
can be done to build up verandahs, and to make ven- 
tilators, and to pretend to make the hot winds bearable. 
There are in India two regular parties, one preferring 



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Bengal with the hot days and the damp and the sea- 
breeze blowing at night, and the other standing up for 
their hot winds, twenty degrees hotter, but dry. I have 
never varied in thinking; the account of them terrific. 
From the end of March to the middle of June, they 
blow unceasingly, night and day. Nobody stirs out, 
and all night the tatties are kept wet, and therman- 
tidotes (great icinnowing machines) are kept turning to 
make a little cool air. The windows are never opened, 
and they say that, at midnight, if you were to go out, 
it fee]s like going into a furnace. However, those 
who are all for the provinces say, the wind is dry and 
not unwholesome, and that as long as you do not 
attempt to go out of the house, you do not suffer from 
the heat. It is a regular strict imprisonment. Calcutta 
is bad, but there we had a regular evening drive, and 
Government House was really cool at night ; then in 
case of illness there was the sea at hand, but here, if 
any of us are ill, of course there is no escape. Even 
natives cannot travel in the hot winds. The discom- 
fiture is general. Most of our goods are half-way to 
Calcutta. The native servants, who thought they 
were within reach of their wives and families after two 
years' absence, are utterly desperate. 

Mr. A. has thrown up his place, and goes down to 
Calcutta. Mrs. S. plods back to Simla with her 
children, and leaves her husband here. Mrs. H. ditto, 
and I think those two ladies are rather pleased, it forces 
them to keep their boys another year in the country. 
Z. has been ill since we came here, but the day this 
shock was communicated to him, he got up electrified, 
dressed himself, and came to my room to bemoan his 



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particular hard fate, so like Narcissus Fripps. ( I 
really am quite overset — I have not an idea what to 
do — I am so afraid of the hot winds, and this is such 
a place ! no society whatever ! Now at Calcutta I 
really should have enjoyed myself.' This was" said 
with an air of great interest. 

I saw my opportunity and put it to him, that the 
hot winds were very bad for the attacks he is sub- 
ject to, that Dr. D. had always wished him to go home, 
and that he might now have a medical certificate, 
which would save his paying his own passage, &c. 
And so he took the right turn, went straight to the 
doctor's tent, and came back to say that he had decided 
to go home. It really is the best thing he can do, 
and Dr. D. says it is the only chance of his getting well. 

We still go to Grwalior, and go back into camp on 
Thursday ; we shall be nearly a month away, and we 
leave X. behind, with Giles and all the carpenters 
and tailors of the establishment to make up beds, 
furniture, &c, for we have nothing but small camp 
beds, which are not endurable in heat. 

Monday, December 30. 

You cannot conceive what a pretty fete they gave 
us at the Taj, or how beautiful it looked by broad 
daylight. 

The whole society, with our camp, was just one 
hundred people, and we dined in what had once been 
a mosque, but it was desecrated many years ago. Still 
I thought it was rather shocking; our eating; ham and 
drinking wine in it, but its old red arches looked very 
handsome. 



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363 



Some of the Agra people are too strict to dance, 
and as much walking is difficult in the plains, it is 
lucky the afternoon did not hang very heavily ; but 
the garden is very prettily laid out, and W. O. chal- 
lenged a fat Mr. N., an old acquaintance, to play at 
hop-scotch with all their old Westminster rules. W. is 
wonderfully active still at all those games, and plays 
at them with very good grace, and it was great fun to 
see Mr. N., who is the image of Pickwick and dresses 
like him, hopping and jumping and panting after him. 
It kept everybody in a roar of laughter for an hour, and 
filled up the afternoon very well. ~No ; the more our 
plan of staying here is canvassed the worse it is — the 
mere precautions that are to be taken, show what 
those horrible hot winds are to be. However, I believe, 
as they all say, the best way is not to think of them 
more than can be helped. The weather is fine now. 
But what I do think of, morning, noon, and night, is 
the utter impossibility of our going home now in 1841. 
It is too sore a subject to write about, and it had much 
better be left untouched, for fear it should establish 
itself into a fact, but I always foresaw those horrid 
secretaries would work it out if they could. 

I am in that mood that I should almost be glad if 
the Sikhs, or the Russians, or anybody, would come 
and take us all. It would be one way out of the 
country. Captain C. has got an excellent appoint- 
ment at Lucknow, but he will not leave us till after 
Gwalior, as he thinks he may be of use, as X. must 
stay here to build and superintend. Captain C. has 
thoroughly earned his appointment by four years' con- 
stant service, but he is the last of the original set, and 



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we are all very unhappy at his going, he is the most 
thorough gentleman in mind, and very clever and 
original. He has always been a great favourite with 
Gr. a and as I think Mr. D. might accidentally fall in with 
Allan C. or find an opportunity of seeing him, perhaps 
he would mention how well his son is thought of, and 
how well he is now settled. Captain X. bore his 
disappointment wonderfully well, and has been very 
amiable in many respects. G. offered him a smaller 
place, which might just have enabled him to marry, 
but when he found Z. was going as well as Captain C, 
he thought ^ e should be having so manv strangers at 
once, just as we were settling in a new place and to a 
new sort of life, that he would not leave us. I really 
do not know what we could have done without him at 
this moment. He is ordering all the new buildings, 
buying furniture in all directions, and ordering up 
everything from Calcutta, where he had just provided 
for our return. Agra produces nothing, there is no 
shop, and so few Europeans that I suppose the box 
wallahs find no trade, so we have been obliged to send 
to Calcutta for mats for the floors, musquito curtains, 
even common pins. 

Tuesday, Dec. 31. 

I went early this morning with Mr. H. and to 

see the Female Orphan School. We saw the boys last 
week — there are 150 boys and 130 girls who were 
picked up at the time of the famine two years ago, 
starving and with no relations. The boys are learn- 
ing all sorts of trades ; and as we are detained here 
another year, I thought it would be better to send my 
two little girls to the other school for the time, if they 



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365 



will let me have them again, to take to Mrs. "Wilson. 
There is a German missionary and his wife at the head 
of this school. He speaks Hindoostanee tolerably, but 
she speaks no English and very little Hindoostanee ; 
however, there is another woman to assist, and they 
seem to make it out very tolerably, and they are an 
interesting looking young couple, with such soft Ger- 
man voices. Rosina took Ameeum and J ehurun there 
after breakfast, and stayed great part of the day with 
them, but they all three did nothing but cry, though 
the old body is very sensible about them, and thinks 
it better they should go. Poor little things ! I am 
sorry to lose them ; they were such funny little animals, 
and used to imitate Wright and Rosina in trying to 
dress me, and really made themselves useful on the 
march. Z. is taking home a parcel to you — two of my 
sketch-books, which I want you to keep for me ; the 
others are unluckily on the river on their way to 
Calcutta. Then, a parcel directed to you, in which 
there are two half shawls, embroidered ail over, really 
about the prettiest things I have seen, which it appeared 
Wright had procured from Delhi for T. and E. She 
thought they would be very suitable for two young 
ladies going out. I thought they were too expensive 
presents for her to send, and F. and I tried to persuade 
her out of it, but she said she had got them on purpose, 
so there they are ; and for fear you should be jealous, 
I have sent you a green worked Delhi scarf. Also, in 
a little box directed to R., there are two press papiers, 
a marble tortoise, and a marble book — Agra works, 
which I send T. and E. F. has sent the girls some 
rings ; so what you are to wring from Z. when he 



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arrives, are two sketch-books, a parcel of shawls, and a 
little box of rings, all directed to you ; and these two 
marble things in the parcel to R. 



CHAP TEE L. 

Thursday, Jan. 2, 1840. 

I went yesterday evening to see my children, who 
seemed quite reconciled to their fates, and were 
stuffing rice and curry in large handfuls. Mrs. L., the 
matron, said they did not take to the other children, 
but pottered after her wherever she went. Rosina 
went to bid them good-bye, and was quite satisfied 
with their treatment. 

We marched fifteen miles this morning over a very 
heavy road. The mornings are very cold now before 
the sun rises, but the rest of the day is very fine. 
They are luckily making a great deal of ice this year. 
Large fields are covered with very shallow porous 
saucers, which hold a very little water, and when the 
thermometer comes down to 36° this turns into very 
thin ice, and the people collect it and pound it ; they 
reckon that about one-third is available in the hot 
weather, and it is a great comfort. 

Dholepore, Saturday, Jan. 4. 

The Dholepore Rajah came to fetch Gr. in this 
morning. He seems to run to size, in everything ; 
wears eight of the largest pearls ever seen ; rides the 
tallest elephant ; his carriage has two stories and is 
drawn by six elephants, and he lives in a two-storied 



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367 



tent — ricketty, but still nobody else has one so large. 
He is one of the potentates who undertake to feed all 
our camp gratis, which is a popular measure with the 
sepoys and servants. Scindia, the Gwalior Kajah, is 
encamped on the other side of the river, about five 
miles off, and G. reckons that he will have about two 
durbars a day for the next fortnight. He had two 
to-day — one for Dholepore himself, and another for 
Scindia's Vakeel. The Mahrattas are a very raga- 
muffin-looking race. E. is the Gwalior resident, and 
is on the same fat scale with everything else, except 
little Violet Snook, who is trotting about the street 
very busily. It is rather curious that the camp should 
contain three officers rejoicing in the names of Violet 
Snook, Gandy Gaitskell, and Orlando Stubbs. Are 
they common names in England ? Gandy Gaitskell 
we are uncommonly intimate with ; he is always on 
guard, and always dining here. Orlando Stubbs is a 
novelty. 

Sunday, Jan. 5. 

The officers of the Gwalior contingent sent to ask 
when they could call, and I thought it would be good 
for their morals to say that church began at eleven, 
and we could see them afterwards. They live five 
miles off, so Colonel E. gave them a breakfast before 
church, and when I went out this morning early, they 
were all arriving, and Violet Snook was rushing in 
and out in a violent state of excitement, receiving his 
brother officers, shaking hands, and bowing and order- 
ing, and in short it was quite pleasant to see a Violet 
with such spirits, and a Snook with such manners. 
They all came after church, and seemed a gentleman- 



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like set. I think if I were a soldier, I should like to 
belong to a local corps, or a contingent ; they all wear 
suck pretty fancy dresses. 

^Monday, Jan. 6. 

Tins has been a day of durbars for G., which is a 
sad waste of time. Scindia, the Gwalior Rajah, came 
in the morning to pay his visit. G. sent a deputation 
yesterday to compliment him, and they had, as usual 
with these great native princes, to take off their shoes 
on going in. The rajah himself takes off his own 
shoes, and Europeans keep on their hats if they take 
off their shoes. In fact, they do not really take them 
off ; they put stockings over them. 

Scindia was four hours coming five miles to G.'s 
durbar this morning. Xatives think it a mark of 
dignity .to move as slowly as possible. How going 
down to TTindsor by railroad would disgust them ! 
And G, L. E., and P., who had been sent to fetch 
him, were nearly baked alive on their elephants. On 
the return he was polite enough to dismiss them after 
they had gone two hundred, yards, or they would have 
had four hours more. He is young, very black, and 
not good-looking, but it is impossible to look at Mm, 
on account of his pearls. He wears three large ropes, 
or rather cables, of pearls, and those round his throat 
are as big as pigeons' eggs, larger than Runjeet's 
famous pearls. His courtiers are not ill off in matter 
of jewels, particularly emeralds. In the afternoon G. 
went to return the Dholepore Rajah's visit, and see 
some fireworks, &c, &c. F. and I agreed not to go, 
as it was four miles off, and the Mahrattas are not 



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369 



pleasant natives. We went tip a little hill near the 
camp, from which the procession looked very pretty, 
and then we had the advantage of righting a bit of 
wrong. Two of our band and an artilleryman had got 
into a quarrel with the priests of a little mosque on 
this hill, and were beating them, and the natives came 
rushing to us for protection. The Europeans were 
evidently in the wrong, and they ran off instantly, but 
I sent the jemadar to say I wanted them particularly, 
and it was so funny to hear their broad Irish. f That 
native, me lady, abused me shockingly — words I could 
not be shocking you with repating ; and as I cannot 
speak a word of their language, I bet him well ! ' i But 
how do you know he was abusing you, if you do not 
know a word of his language ? ' 6 Oh, me lady, there 
could be no mistake ; his abuse was so shocking, worse 
luck for me that I could not answer.' s Besides, I 
translated,' one of our little band-boys said ; and then 
the natives produced a stick they had broken on him, 
and the Europeans picked up a great stone they de- 
clared had been thrown at them, but they could not 
help laughing themselves at that, it was so obviously 
untrue. And so it ended in my telling the priests to 
come to camp with their complaint to-morrow, and 
telling the band to go home, and be ready to play at 
dinner ; but there was something rather pleasant in 
this Irish quarrel. 

Tuesday, Jan. 7- 

Well ! there never were such times ! e I am too old 
entirely for these quick changes,' as the old nurse says, 
in Miss Edgeworth's e Ormond,' but I am glad of this 
one. Gr. woke me this morning by poking his head 

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into the tent and saying, ( Here is the overland mail 
come, and all my plans are changed, and we are going 
down to Calcutta.' I am so glad ; it is all in the way 
home. I really think (don't you ?) that we shall stick 
now to our original time of March 1841, and it was 
quite hopeless a week ago. I think this is a great 
piece of luck, and feel as if I could do like the native 
servants. They are all quite mad, flinging themselves 
on the ground, and throwing off their turbans ; and at 
least twenty of the^head servants have been to my tent 
to ask if it is true, and to say, that they are praying to 
Allah for 6 Lordship's health,' and to thank him for 
taking them back to their families. If Allah had any- 
thing to do with it, I am much obliged to him too, and 
to Lordship for taking us back to our families. I could 
not bear Agra, and now everybody owns that the hot 
winds would have been fearful, but they are all in 
their separate difficulties. Mr. Y. has left his children 
at Agra ; C. his wife ; we have left all our goods, 
except a small allowance of clothes ; the aides-de-camp 
have all bought buggies and horses, and everybody had 
taken a house. W. 0. spent nearly 1,000/. in pre- 
parations and furniture, but a good deal of that may 
be retrieved. Captain X. luckily came into camp this 
morning, and is going back to undo all he has done ; 
send off Giles and all the servants we left, and my two 
little girls, and all our dear boxes. JN r ot that I have 
ever seen again any box that I ever left behind, in any 
place in India, and we are so marched and counter- 
marched, that our property is horribly scattered, but I 
think there is a chance of bringing it all together at 
Calcutta. Everything in India always comes down by 



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371 



water, and as a good large river comes down to 
Calcutta, it is a possible rendezvous for our things. 

Thursday, Jan. 9. 

We left Dholepore this morning, and had great 
difficulty in coming along ; the road for four miles was 
through a narrow sandy ravine. Scindia's camp moved 
yesterday, and his goods had only got through the pass 
at eight last night, and that owing to P.'s working all 
day. Our hackeries that left camp at one yesterday 
are not come in at one to-day ; they had stuck in all 
the narrow places, and there was a dead camel here, 
and a dead bullock there, and an elephant had killed a 
man somewhere else, and in short it was a bad pass. 
Now, to answer your letter. I hope dear E. is better, 
as you do not say he is not. How you do rush about 
on those railways ! You put me quite out of breath. 

Gwalior, Saturday, Jan. 10. 

We have had more letters by the second express, 
many of them written since the news of Ghuznee had 
been known. The Gwalior rajah met us this morning, 
rather to our discomfiture, as F. and I had meant to 
come on quietly in the carriage, but the roads were so 
narrow and his train so wide, that we were obliged to 
get on our elephants. He rides the largest elephant 
in India ; it is nearly twelve feet high, and G.'s, which 
is generally thought a large one, looked like a little 
pony, and, what was worse, was so afraid of the 
rajah's, that it was ten minutes before they could be 
driven close enough to allow of G.'s getting safely 
into the rajah's howdah. I always think that a very 

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unpleasant part of the ceremony, to say nothing of the 
little .French embrace that follows. The Mahratta 
horsemen are striking-looking people in their gold 
dresses, with their very long spears ; and altogether it 
was a very pretty sight, but the rajah stuck to his 
dignified rule of going as slow as possible, and we 
were just an hour and a quarter going the last two 
miles, though he should consider that after eight 
o'clock, every hour of his horrid sun is of the highest 
importance. Gwalior is a picturesque-looking place, 
a fort on a rock, which, after all the flat plains, looks 
distinguished. 

Sunday, Jan. 11. 

We received all the ladies belonging to the Gwalior 
contingent yesterday, and the officers, only sixteen 
altogether, and four ladies, two of them uncommonly 

black, and the third, Captain remembers as a 

little o-irl running: about barracks, a soldier's daughter, 
but she was pretty, and, by dint of killing off a 
husband, or two, she is now at nineteen the wife of a 
captain here. I should think she must look back with 
regret to her childish plebeian days. The husband 
interrupts her every time she opens her lips, and she 
had not been here two minutes, before he said in a 
gruff tone, s Come, Ellen,' and carried the poor little 
body off. 

We have had no service to-day for want of Mr. Y. 
We went this evening to see the fort and palace, and 
very beautiful it was, so like Bluebeard's abode. As 
the elephants plodded up one steep flight of steps after 
another, with the castle still frowning over our heads, 



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373 



D., who is not imaginative nor jocose, said, f I cannot 
help thinking sister Anne must be looking out for us,' 
and we all agreed that she must. There is a beautiful 
old temple in the fort— one mass of carving ; and I 
should like to pick out a few chimney-pieces for Ken- 
sington Gore from the carved stones that are tumbling 
about these old places. 



CHAPTER LI. 

Monday, Jan. 12, 1840. 

We dined with Colonel J. yesterday. He lives, I be- 
lieve, quite in the native style, with a few black Mrs. 
J.'s gracing his domestic circle when we are not here, 
but he borrowed St. Cloup and our cooks to dress the 
dinner, and it all went off very well. That little Mrs. 
T. looked very pretty, but Captain T. planted himself 
opposite to her, and frowned whenever she tried to talk, 
but he did not quite stop her, and another week of 
society would, I expect, enable her to frown again. We 
went to Scindia's durbar to-day. The palace was three 
miles off, and we had to set off at three on elephants, 
and the heat and the dust and the crowd were some- 
thing inconceivable, but it was a curious show. The 
durbar was very orderly and handsome. G. and Scindia 
sat together on a gold throne with a canopy, and F. 
and I on two silver chairs next to G., and down each 
side of the room Were his sirdars on one side and our 
officers on the other. After we had sat about ten 



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minutes, the negotiations began for our going to see 
the ranee, and there were many preliminaries to ar- 
range, and at last we condescended to walk through the 
two rooms that led to the zenana, for fear any of the 
bearers should catch a glimpse of anything, and no 
aide-de-camp was to go for the same reason, so we 
walked off with Mrs. H. We had sent the two ayahs 
there in the morning, as Mrs. H. does not speak the 
language very well. Some female slaves met us at 
the first door, and then some cousins of the rajah's ; 
in the next room two stepmothers, and then an old 
grandmother, and at the door of her own room was the 
little ranee, something like a little transformed cat in 
a fairy tale, covered with gold tissue, and clanking with 
diamonds. Her feet and hands were covered with rings 
fastened with diamond chains to her wrists and ankles. 
She laid hold of our hands and led us to her throne, 
which was like the rajah's, without a canopy, and her 
women lifted her up, and we sat on each side of her, 
and then all the relations sat in two rows on chairs, and 
looked uncomfortable, and the nautch girls began 
dancing. The ranee is only eight years old, and is 
the sister of his first wife, on whom he doted, and on 
her death-bed she made him promise to marry this child. 
She was so shy, she would hardly let us see her face, 
but the old women talked for her, and the presents filled 
up the time, for the rajah had ordered that she should 
put all the jewellery on us with her own little hands. 
I had a diamond necklace and a collar, some native 
pearl earrings that hung nearly down to the waist, and 
a beautiful pair of diamond bracelets, and the great 
article of all was an immense diamond tiara. I luckily 



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375 



could not keep this on with a bonnet. They were 
valued altogether at 2,400/., the mere stones. F.'s 
were of different shapes, some very pretty, but not so 
costly, but altogether it was an immense prize for the 
Company. Then we had a bale of shawls, and the 
ayahs got six shawls, and Mrs. H. a necklace, and 
besides all the diamonds, they hung flowers all over us. 
We must have looked like mad tragedy queens when 
we came out, but everybody was transmogrified in the 
same way. Some years ago, it might have made us 
laugh, but W. and Mr. A., with great necklaces of 
flowers on, led us gravely back to our silver chairs, and 
there was G., sitting bolt upright, a pattern of patience, 
with a string of pearls as big as peas round his neck, a 
diamond ring on one hand and a large sapphire on the 
other, and a cocked hat embroidered in pearls at his 
side. We came home through a grand illumination, 
and were thoroughly tired at last. 

Tuesday, Jan. 13. 

Scindia returned G.'s visit to-day, and the ceremonies 
were much the same, and I think our presents were 
almost handsomer than his. G. asked him to come for 
a secret conference into the shawl tent with silver poles 
that Runjeet gave us, and in that was the gold bed in- 
laid with rubies, also Runjeet's, on which they both sat, 
with B. and A., Colonel J. on one side and the rajah's 
two ministers on the other. It looked mysterious and 
conspiring, and the rajah's followers were in a horrid 
state of alarm ; they said their king had been carried 
off, and had no guards, and perhaps never would be let 
out again. G. and the rajah transacted a little real 



376 



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business, and then G. got up and asked him to 
accept the tent and the bed, which quite delighted him, 
and he went away. 

We went on to see a much more interesting little dur- 
bar. G. had all the old soubadars and havildars of the 
regiments that have been with us, all through this march, 
and some of the body-guard, and gave them each a gun 
and a pair of shawls. One old fellow has been fifty- 
eight years in the service, and would tell his story here: 
he had been at Java in Lord Minto's time, and so on, 
and he had five medals to show, another had four ; they 
are all most respectable natives. Their great desire 
was that G. should pour attar on their hands, with his 
own hand, which is a great distinction ; and altogether 
it was a very touching sight, and has pleased all the 
troops very much. 

We had a great dinner of all the officers afterwards, 
which luckily was not formal; as there was a Mr. Y., 
a cousin of Lady B.'s, who sings beautifully, without 
accompaniment, and filled up the evening very plea- 
santly. 

"Wednesday. 

The camp moved three miles to-day, that G. might 
be nearer the garden-house where the rajah was to give 
him a dinner, and we came over such roads ! I wonder 
the carriage stood it. The dinner was all in the native 
style, but would have been eatable, G. says, only he 
was on so high a chair that he never could pick up a 
morsel from the table. The rajah sent F. and me 
some dinner — three kids roasted whole, and covered with 
gold and silver leaf, a deer, and about fifty dishes of 
sGrts, much to the delight of the servants. Wright and 



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377 



Jones with Rosina went to take our return presents to 
the little ranee, and were charmed with their visit. 

Thursday. 

G. went to a long tiresome review to-day, and F. 
and C. went with Captain X., Mr. H., and Dr. D. to 
visit Donheit Rao's tomb. The baizee baee erected it 
fifteen years ago. There is a black marble figure of 
him, dressed in the same sort of gold stuff he always 
wore, and with all his jewels on, and as, being of black 
marble, he cannot go to Mahadeo's temple to say prayers, 
Mahadeo is brought and put on a table before him. 
Food* is served up to him three times a day, and there 
is a nautch going on while he is supposed to eat. They 
were nautching all the time we were there, and I think 
the marble man liked it. The baee endowed the tomb 
with five villages, and the Brahmins in attendance eat 
up the food the marble man leaves. It has made rather 
a good sketch. Gr. said, while the review was going on, 
the sirdar who had been with us came and reported 
that the ladies had been to the tomb and had been so 
much pleased that they made a drawing of it, and that 
they had returned safely to camp, and the maharajah 
sent his compliments, and said he was glad to hear of 
our safety. I never felt much afraid, did you ? but 
then I have sketched before, and know what it is. 

Friday, Jan. 17. 

I declare I think Scindia a very nice young man, 
likely to turn out well. There is an enamelled little 
box of spices that comes every day with the uneatable 
food he sends for luncheon, and I took it up one day 



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and commented upon its beauty. I suppose our ser- 
vants told his, for to-day Colonel E. arrived with Bajee 
Rao and another Yakeel, who had brought the little 
spice-box in a palanquin, with a message from the 
rajah that he heard I had admired it, and that he had 
sent it as a private present to me, that if the Company 
were to have it, he did not give it at all, but that 
Colonel E. was to arrange so that I should have it. G. 
has paid its value to the Company, which is the simplest 
arrangement, though he hardly ever will give leave to 
have anything bought by private contract, but in this 
instance where there was no return present he did. 
Colonel E. is very angry that it should be paid for be- 
cause it was entirely a private present, but I see the 
value of the rule. It was very good-natured of the 
rajah to think of it, and I shall keep my little spice- 
box with a tender recollection of him, to say nothing of 
its being a lovely little article, per se. 

Saturday, Jan. 18. 

I should like to have kept this open till your letter 
arrived, but Gr. seems to think the great packet may 
not come till to-morrow. Still, I think I won't send it. 
G. may be wrong, everybody is occasionally. In the 
meantime, I beg to say we have left Gwalior, and 
I shall have nothing to see, or say, till we get back to 
Calcutta. So you need hardly read the next journal 
— it will be so very heavy. 

W. and I got up by a wrong gun this morning, one 
of Scindia's. There is no carriage road, so we all travel 
separately in tonjauns, or on elephants, or horses or 
anyhow ; and after I had set off in a great fuss at being 



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379 



so late, G.'s first gun fired. I found W. scrambling 
along on a pony, under the same delusion ; and we got 
in here an hour before the others, riding the last six 
miles as hard as we could. I was glad to be in soon, 
the weather is so very hot. It has been cold for about 
three weeks this year. — God bless you! I have been 
trying to read over my journal and have stuck in it. 
What very heavy reading it is ! 

Jan. 20. 

I have kept this open for two days, in hopes that the 
letters would come in, but we have just got all the 
Galignanis with an announcement from Bombay, that 
the Falmouth packet is not come at all ; and all your 
letters are there — and everybody's. It is so dishearten- 
ing ! — We cannot have them for five weeks. 



CHAPTER LII. 

Nuddea Gaon, Thursday, Jan. 23, 1840. 

That missing Falmouth packet still hangs on my mind, 
and I cannot digest its loss after three days, which must 
be very unwholesome. We are poking along the 
narrow roads and ravines of Bundelcund, always afraid 
every night that the carriage will not be available, and 
finding every morning that the rajah of the day (we 
live in a course of rajahs) has widened the old road, or 
cut a new one, and picked the stones off the hills and 
thrown them into the holes ; and so, somehow, we come 



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along. We have our old friend, Mr. F., who marched 
with us two years ago, in camp with his Jhansi rajah, 
who has met us and been durbared and visited ; and a 
Captain R. with his rajah in prospect ; and Colonel 
E. still here, because we every now and then step over 
a mile of Gwalior territory ; and Colonel H. also, an 
old friend, and a sad spectacle of what two more years 
in India have done. This morning we came in on ele- 
phants because the Duttyah rajah met G. We arrived 
all over dust, but still, as I was telling G., the meeting 
between Dutty and Dusty was tolerably good. Dutt- 
yah's is rather a pretty story. He was picked up 6 a 
naked, new-born child ' under a tree at this place by the 
Governor-General's agent, who was taking his morn- 
ing's ride, and who carried the child to the Palace. 
The old rajah, who had no children, said it was the 
gift of God, and that he would adopt him ; and an 
adopted son is, with the natives, as good an hen as any 
other ; but sometimes the English Government objects, 
as territories without an heir fall to the Company. 
There were ill-natured people who said that the Resi- 
dent Agent took a paternal interest in the little brown 
baby, and knew exactly under which tree he was to 
look for a forsaken child ; but I am sure the boy's look 
quite disproves that calumny. He is more hideously 
fat than any boy of fourteen I ever saw ; a regular 
well-fed Hindu. The Government never gave a formal 
consent to the adoption, but his territory is particularly 
well-managed by the old prime minister ; and so, upon 
his consent to pay a certain tribute, he was to be pub- 
licly received as rajah, to-day, and he and his subjects 
all mustered in great force, and the old minister was 



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381 



fussing his heart out, to have his fat boy's elephant at 
G.'s right hand, and looking very proud of his maha- 
rajah. It is very shocking, and I hope it may never 
be the case in any other country, but we have seen a 
great many young, petty sovereigns lately, and it is ex- 
traordinary how like they all are to the old prime 
ministers belonging to their fathers. It is rather 
pleasant for this boy to look at the tree where he was 
found without a rag on, and to think he has a very large 
territory with a clear income of £140,000 a year. 
W.O. left us last Monday evening; he did not mean 
to stop an hour on the road, and it is horrid to think 
that he is still going shaking on, with the bearers say- 
ing ( humph ! humph ! ha ! ha ! ' which they do without 
ceasing. 

Friday. 

Lord Jocelyn, who has been coming across from 
Bombay to join us through sundry difficulties, writes 
now from Gwalior, and says that Captain E. is to pass 
him on to Soonderah, where he hopes we shall have 
sent horses, &c, and that he will be in camp on Thurs- 
day night. His letter did not come till this morning, 
so he is probably wringing his hands at Soonderah. It 
is thirty miles off, but we have sent out camels and 
such of the horses as are not tired with this morning's 
march, but the syces cannot walk more than fifteen 
miles a day. I have been redeeming from the Tosha 
Khanna (the collection of native presents made to us) 
two or three articles as recollections of this journey, 
but they price them ridiculously high out of regard for 
the Company. I have bought a little ring which Run- 
jeet gave me, a poor diamond, but the only one within 



382 



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my means, for love of the old man ; a little diamond 
cross that was a private gift of Hindu Rao's, and if we 
had not been the most scrupulous of people, need not 
have been given up, and a pair of silver anklets as mere 
curiosities, that the little ranee gave me. I should 
have liked one of the King of Lucknow's presents, but 
none came within my reach. 

Saturday. 

This morning there came a letter written on a scrap 
of brown, native paper, from Lord Jocelyn to G., saying- 
he thought his letter to W. O. had perhaps not been 
opened, that he was at Soonderah after wandering five 
hours in the jungles, that he had lost his servant, ' and 
I hope your Lordship will have the kindness to send 
somebody out to look after me, as I cannot make any- 
body understand a word I say.' 

He came in in the afternoon, and nearly killed 
Colonel E, and Mr. L. and some of the old Indians 
who were dining with us by his account of his troubles. 
6 They would not give me anything to eat, so I held up 
a rupee and said " Dood " (milk), and they brought me 
quantities, but nothing to eat at all, and as I only had 
six rupees and did not know whether I should not have 
to pass the rest of my life at Soonderah, I said, " chota 
pice " (by which he meant small change, but it is as if 
we were to ask for little farthings); they did not attend, 
so then I stalked into a kind of guard-house where 
there were some sepoys, and as they paid no attention 
to me, I knocked my stick on the table to excite them, 
and then made signs of writing and said "Lord Sahib." 
They evidently thought I had no business to write to 



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383 



the Lord Sahib, but at last brought me a stick and a 
piece of brown paper and I wrote and said " Dak," and 
they brought me a man with letter bags, and I said 
"Lord Sahib hi" (is the Lord Sahib here)? upon 
which they all burst out laughing and every time I 
said it, they all laughed more. Then I said, very ma- 
jestically "Jow, Jow, Jow," (which means "go.") Then 
I shut my eyes and pretended to go to sleep, and they 
showed me a shed and I fetched my saddle for a pillow, 
and went to sleep ; but the rats ran over me, so finding 
my horse was rested, I got on him and rode east, which 
I knew was your direction and just as the horse refused 
to move another step met the camels.' 

I really think he managed very well considering that 
the Mahrattas are not in general very civil. 

Oorei, Sunday. 

We met the little Jhetour rajah this morning : such 
a pretty boy of twelve years old, and Mr. F. the agent 
has him constantly with him and teaches him to think 
for himself, and to be active and has got him to live less 
in the zenana than most young natives, and he seems 
lively and intelligent. We halt here a day, that Gr. 
may review the new local corps that has been raised in 
this boy's territories ; they were drawn up in our street 
this morning, and are fine-looking people. Lord 
Jocelyn has filled up the day with shooting ; there are 
quantities of deer about, and he had the good luck to 
kill one. 

Tuesday. 

We halted at Oorei yesterday, that G. might review 
those troops, who made a wonderful display, considering 



UP THE COUXTRT. 



tliat eiglit months ago they were all common peasants ; 
but natives are wonderfully quick under sharp Euro- 
peans, and Captain B., who has been fighting in Spain 
and is very active, has just hit their fancy. He goes 
about in a sort of blue and gold fancy dress, and puts 
himself into a constant series of attitudes. 

The weather is so dreadfully hot, much worse than 
a January in Calcutta, but they say it is always so in 
Bundelcund. Gr. and I are quite beat out of riding 
any part of the march, even before seven o'clock, but 
F. still rides. 

She and G. have gone on arguing to the end about 
the tents. He says, he should like before he gets into 
his palanquin, to make a great pyramid of tent pins, 
and put the flagstaff in the centre, with the tents neatly 
packed all round, and then set fire to the whole. He 
thinks it would be an act of humanity, as it would be 
at least a year before they could be replaced, so that 
nobody, during that time, could undergo all the dis- 
comfort and bore he has undergone. She declares it is 
the only life she likes, never to be two days in the same 
place ; just as if we ever were in c a place? 



CHAPTEK LIII. 

Culpee, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 1840. 

This is our great place of dispersion. Gr., A., and 
Mars start to-morrow for Calcutta, Lord Jocelynfor 
Agra, C. for Lucknow, and we on our march to 
Allahabad. M., H., and Colonel E. take up Gr.'s dak 



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385 



the next day — that is, they inherit his bearers and 
follow him as fast as they can, and the rest of the camp 
go with us. We found Mrs. C, Mrs. X., and the 
Y.s, all in their separate boats at the ghaut here, 
which was a curious coincidence, as everybody started 
on a different day, and a great delight to X. 

Thursday, Jan. 30. 

Lord Jocelyn passed two hours in my tent, talking 
over old days. He is very amusing and pleasant, and 
rubs up a number of London recollections. 

We all had an early dinner at three, and then he 
started in a dhoolie. There were no spare palanquins 
in camp, and a dhoolie is a sort of bed with red cur- 
tains, that sick soldiers are carried in, very light, but 
squalid-looking. 

The street was full of officers, and soldiers, and ser- 
vants ; everybody in camp assembled to wish Gr. good- 
bye, and Lord Jocelyn came out in a flowered dressing- 
gown and slippers, with a cigar and a volume of a 
French novel, and took possession of this wretched bed, 
and seemed quite delighted with it. His servant fol- 
lowed on a camel. G. and A. then set off in the shut 
carriage, which is to take them two stages, Mars with 
palanquins having gone on in the morning. G/s going 
is a great grief. It is somehow impossible to live 
without him here, and then India is such a horrid 
place. People who care about each other never ought 
to part for a day ; it is all so uncertain, and communi- 
cation is so difficult. F. and H. made a short march 
of five miles, just across the Jumna, and C. came on 
with all the rest and passed the evening with us, and 

c c 



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then set off for his appointment at Lucknow. He is a 
great loss in every way. and has been with us for four 
years nearly. M., Colonel E., and H. we left on the 
other bank : they are to follow G. to-morrow. 

Tricky, Jan. 31. 

Captain D. is in a considerable fuss. Colonel 

seems never to have recollected that though so many 
individuals have left the camp, their property and 
servants remain there, just the same, and that the 
public officers, with all the clerks, must march on ; so 
there is the same want of sentries. He ordered off 
half of the regiment that had come to escort us to 
Allahabad, and Colonel B., who only joined last night, 
sent word that he had only 300 men to do the work of 
1,000. The sentries are withdrawn from all the pri- 
vate tents, and all the silver howdahs and waggon loads 
of shawls, jewellery, arms, &c, of the Tosha Khanna, 
are brought into the middle of the street. I should 
have liked to have robbed it for fun : in the first place, 
for the value of the goods, and then it would have put 
D.j L., and the baboo into such a state of horror. 

Xobody was robbed but Mr. , who always is, 

and looks as if he always must be ; he seems so help- 
less, and dangles his hands about in a pair of bright 
vellow gloves, quite new, and too large for him, and 
savs, i It is very odd how the devils of dacoits persecute 
me." 

The other day they stole his horse : he had put five 
police to guard it, and the thief just cut the ropes, 
jumped on its back, and rode off, and has never been 
heard of since. It is very convenient stealing a white 



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387 



horse in this country, because the natives always paint 
them, sometimes in stripes like zebras, and sometimes 
in zigzags, and always give them scarlet, or orange 
tails, and orange legs; so they disguise a stolen one 
instantly. 

Mr. T. is such a prim boy ; he is very gentlemanlike- 
looking, and seems very amiable, but he is certainly 
prim. His uniform is so stiff he cannot turn his head 
round, and he talks poetically whenever he does speak. 

F. declares he quoted to-day something from Mr. 
Thomson's e Seasons.' I wish when he gives us his 
arm that he would shut it up again. He sticks it out 
almost akimbo, so that it is impossible to hook on with 
any certainty. 

G-hautumpore, Sunday, Feb. 2. 

We have halted here to-day to allow more troops to 
come and protect the general property. 

I heard from G. from Futtehpore. He says he can 
sleep very well in his palanquin; he might call it 
rather a slow conveyance, but thinks of us marching, 
and blesses his own fate. Mr. Beechey, the painter at 
Lucknow, sent me to-day a miniature of G., done by a 
native from his picture. It is a shocking caricature, 
but a very little would make it like. I can make the 
alteration myself; and if I can get it smoothed up at 
Calcutta, I will send it home, and the girls can hang 
up ( the devoted creature ' in their room. Mr. Beechey 
says he has sent me the original sketch in oils to Cal- 
cutta. It was an excellent picture, and I hope he has 
not touched it since. 

Jehannabad, Monday, Feb. 3. 

I heard again from G. from Allahabad ; in fact, he 
c c 2 



388 



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is yery little in his palanquin. All the magistrates 
and collectors of the different districts had placed their 
carriages and buggies at his disposal along the road 
that they knew he must go ; so he gets on very fast, 
and then rests all the hot part of the day in a bungalow, 
which gives time for his palanquin to come up. He 
had gone thirty miles at one spell in a carriage drawn 
by four camels. 

Futtehpore, Thursday, Feb. 6. 

I have missed three days. They are all so exactly 
alike and so more than ever tiresome now G. is gone ; 
I cannot get on at all without him. There is nobody 
else in this country who understands me, and you keep 
standing there such miles off, that you are not of the 
least use when I want you most. Then your letters 
did not come last month. You cannot imagine what 
companions your letters are, and I want one so very 
much just now. 

T\ r e have come back to-day, to one of our early 
halting places two years ago, so that looks as if we 
really were coming to an end of our wanderings in the 
wilderness, and I am sure it is high time we did. All 
the chairs and tables are tumbling to pieces, the china 
is all cracked, the right shoe of my only remaining pair 
has sprung a large hole, the brambles that infest the 
jungles where we encamp have torn my gown into 
fringes, so that I look like a shabby Pharisee, and my 
last bonnet is brown with dust. I am obliged to get 
"Wright to darn a thing or two surreptitiously; the 
tailors think it wrong and undignified to mend. Al- 
together I can conceive nothing pleasanter than coming 
to a completely fresh set out at Calcutta. 



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389 



General E. passed through camp to-day in his palan- 
quin, and stopped for two hours and came to see us. 
I recollect him so well with the F.s and G.s as f Elphy 
Bey,' and never had made out it was the same man till 
a sudden recollection came over me a week ago. He 
is in a shocking state of gout, poor man ! — one arm in 
a sling and very lame,, but otherwise is a young-looking 
general for India. He hates being here, and is in all 
the first struggles of e a real ancient Briton.' (Don't 
you remember how you and I were f ancient Britons ' 
always, when we fell into foreign society ?) He is 
wretched because nobody understands his London 
topics, or knows his London people, and he revels in a 
long letter from Lord W. He thought G. very much 
altered since he had seen him, and G. thought the 
same of him. I suppose it will be very dreadful when 
we all meet. ( Oh ! my coevals, remnants of your- 
selves,' I often think of that. What sort of a remnant 
are you ? I am a remnant of faded yellow gingham. 

General E. said, ( lt seems odd that I have never 
seen A. since we were shooting grouse together, and 
now I had to ask for an audience and for employment. 
I got a hint, and rather a strong one, from the 
Governor- General to take Delhi in my way to Meerut, 
and to look at the troops there and be active in my 
command.' He went off with a heavy heart to his 
palanquin, which must be a shaky conveyance for 
gout. One sees how new arrivals must amuse old 
Indians. He cannot, of course, speak a word of 
Hindoostanee, neither can his aide-de-camp. ( My 
groom is the best of us, but somehow we never can 
make the bearers understand us. I have a negro who 



390 



UP THE COUNTRY, 



speaks English, but I could not bring him dak.' I 
suppose he means a native ; but that is being what 
the ( artful dodger ' in ( Oliver Twist ' would have 
called ( jolly green.' He can hardly have picked up 
a woolly black negro who speaks Hindoostanee. I 
wish I knew. 

Kutoghun, Sunday, Feb. 9. 

We have halted here for Sunday under a few trees, 
which they call Kutoghun. I don't see any houses 
within ten miles. 

Syme, Feb. 10. 

We were met this morning by two Shuter sirwars, 
bringing invitations from the serious party at Alla- 
habad to a fancy fair and a supper, and from the wicked 
set, to a ball and a supper, and begging us to name 
our own days. We have but Thursday and Friday, 
and it is rather hard, after a long march and before an 
early boat, to put in these gaieties. However, we 
cannot help it, but have declined both the suppers. 

Allahabad, Friday, Feb. 14. 

There ! we arrived yesterday ; the last time in my 
natural life in which I will make a long dusty journey 
before breakfast — at least, that is my hope, my in- 
tention, and my plot ; of course I may be defeated in 
after years. 

The camp is breaking up fast; camp followers asking 
for rupees in every direction ; a fleet of boats loaded, 
and more wanted ; all useless horses and furniture are 
being sold off by Webb at the stables; and to-morrow, 
of all this crowd which still covers five acres, there will 
be nothing left but Captain C. alone in his tent. 



UP THE COU^TEY. 



391 



The fancy fair looked pretty in the evening — very 
6 Vicar of Wrexhillish,' such a mixture of tracts and 
champagne, &c, but the cheapest shop I have been in 
in India. We brought home nearly a carriage-full of 
goods, which will do to give to the servants. To-night 
there is the ball. We have written to beg it may be 
early, and we go on board the budgerows to sleep, and 
they take us down to the steamer to-morrow. X. and 
fourteen boats '-load of trunks went this morning, and 
there are about thirty-five more to make their way to 
Calcutta without steam— carriages, horses, &c. — which 
will arrive about a fortnight after us. 

I heard from G. about 250 miles from Calcutta : 
quite well, and delighted with his rapid travelling — 
four miles an hour ! 



CHAPTER LIV. 

Benares, Monday, Feb. 17, 1840. 

I sent off my last letter from Allahabad, and it is 
almost hard upon you to begin again ; it must be such 
dull reading just now. Our Allahabad ball was what 
they considered brilliant, seeing that it brought out 
their whole female society except two, who were very ill, 
and there were four dancing ladies and four sitters-by. 

They were kind enough to give us supper early, 
where I can always console myself with mulligatawny 
soup (I think it so good — don't you?), and then F. 
and I came off to our separate budgerows. G. is in a 
great state of popularity in the Upper Provinces ; all 
these people talked of him with such regard and ad- 



392 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



miration, and he had evidently exerted himself to talk 
very much during the four days he passed here, without 
the least idea, poor innocent man ! how everything he 
said, was to be repeated. I heard from him near 
Burdwan ; they are out of carriage roads, but he still 
likes the palanquin, and slept very well. He and A. 
took a long walk in the morning while Mars cleared up 
the palanquins for the day, and then another in the 
evening while he made them up for the night. They 
have lived on their cold provisions and seltzer-water 
and tea, and slept as much as they could. They passed 
through a jungle where a man had been killed by 
a tiger some time ago, so the bearers thought it ne- 
cessary to make a great noise, and fire matchlocks 
constantly, and make a boy walk before, playing on a 
fife. G. says, they may have saved his life, but they 
spoiled his night. 

Our budgerows were very comfortable, but somehow 
I was just as sea-sick as if mine were the Jupiter. 
We got down to the flat by three o'clock on Saturday 
afternoon, and found O. Giles had arranged everything 
very comfortably. We have sent for letters. 

G-hazeepore, Feb. 18. 

We got no letters, but Captain F., who had been 
waiting a day and a half to see us, came on board with 
some newspapers and two very pretty sandal-wood 
boxes he has had made for us. He looks very happy, 
and G., who stayed at his house on the way down, was 
quite delighted with his look of comfort, and the way 
in which his house was fitted up. A retired aide-de- 
camp always carries off very genteel notions of setting 
up house. We have seen it in several instances. 



UP THE COUNTKY. 



393 



G. has had a levee, and begun his little dinners, and 
was received very brilliantly at Calcutta. 

We stuck on a sand-bank to-day for seven hours, or 
rather our steamer did, and we left her, and floated 
independently down in the flat to a safe place, till she 
could pick us up. We suppose the other steamer is 
sticking in the same place, as she has not come up to- 
night. 

"Wednesday, Feb. 19. 

A jewel of a man in a small boat came floating up 
with a yellow dak packet in his hand, which he put on 
board — two letters from Gr. and W. O. 

The wind is so high, it blew us on another bank to- 
day, and upset all the furniture. It was just like 
being at sea, and the river is so full of sand-banks, we 
have anchored till the wind goes down. I wish it 
would only mind what it is about, for it is uncommonly 
cool and pleasant, if it would only be a thought less 
violent. 

Friday, Feb. 21. 

Nothing of the other steamer. The 6 Duke of Buc- 
cleuch ' has been lost off the sand-banks, the passengers 
all saved, but I expect my box of clothes, which was to 
come this month, was in her. She has generally 
brought boxes for us. We were aground again for 
three hours to-day, and the Hindus all went on shore 
to cook their dinners ; but the wind was so high they 
could not make the fire burn, and the captain called 
them back just as their dinners were half-cooked. It 
makes them wretched, poor people ! A Hindu will 
only cook once in twenty-four hours, and then, if any 
accident happens, if a dog, or a Christian touches their 
food, or even passes too near it, they throw it all away 



394 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



and go without. Our Hindus would not try to cook 
again to-night when we came to anchor, and they may 
not eat in a boat. 

Saturday, Feb. 22. 

We stopped at Monghyr to-day for coals. We 
found plenty of letters there. Gr. says it will be quite 
necessary for W. O. to go to China ; but there will be 
nothing for the troops to do, so that he may return in 
four months, and will just escape the hot season. My 
poor box is at the bottom of the sea. Cockerell and 
Co. have signified as much to G., and they think there 
was also a box for F. I particularly grudge the gown 
Lady G. worked for me. I was wishing to see it so 
much. It is an inconvenient loss, for if we arrive on 
Saturday, as we expect, I shall have no bonnet to go 
to church in on Sunday, and I have been embittering 
my loss by reading over M. E.'s list of pretty things. 
However, if one is to have a loss, a box of clothes is 
the most reparable, and I must try to fit myself out at 
Calcutta for the rest of the time we are in India. 
This shipwreck will be my 6 Caleb Balderstone's ' great 
fire ; much shabbiness may be excused thereby. The 
second steamer came in just as we left Monghyr, but 
not in time for us to speak to any of them. 

Wednesday, Feb. 26, 

We have gone on, sometimes sticking on a bank for 
an hour, sometimes not able to make the post town we 
wished to arrive at, but we generally make seventy, or 
eighty miles a day, very satisfactorily, and have almost 
always picked up a letter from Gr. or W. Last night 
we exerted ourselves amazingly, stuck up sails, went 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



395 



on in the dark, tried to sit as lightly and as pleasantly 
as possible on the water, in hopes of arriving at Com- 
mercolly, where we counted on finding the overland 
letters. We succeeded in reaching Commercolly, and 
there found the dak baboo with two Calcutta news- 
papers for us, and not a line for anybody. Now we 
have left the short cut to Calcutta, there is so little 
water, and are going round by the Sunderbunds, 
where we shall see nothing but trees and jungle for 
four days ; the fifth I hope we shall arrive at Calcutta. 
It is becoming so hot. 

Cuhia. 

This is a collection of native huts, where there is a 
deposit of coals, but there was also a dear native baboo 
who stepped out with a parcel of letters, one from G., 
saying that the December overland had arrived, but as 
he did not think there was any chance of the letters 
finding us, he had only sent one or two ; and he men- 
tioned any little news he had collected. 

He was quite right in his principle, but as the letters 
have found us, what a pity he did not send your packet, 
which he mentions. 

It is a horrid thing ; a great liberty ; but G., in his 
Grand Mogul way, opens all our letters, and is evi- 
dently revelling in yours and the girls' journals. In- 
deed, he says so; and adds he is so hurried and 
worried he had not time to find the journals. Such 
impertinence ! 

Barackpore, Friday, March 13. 

There ! this is not a journal this time ; it must turn 
into a letter, for I have had no time. We arrived at 
Calcutta late in the evening of Sunday, the 1st March. 



396 



UP THE COUNTRY. 



We ran down a native boat in the dark, and got a 
great fright from the screaming of the men, who were 
however all picked up immediately, and natives, one 
and all, can swim for two or three hours without 
fear. 

We found W. O. in his dressing-gown, and G. in 
bed ; however, he got up and came to us ; he com- 
plains of being very much over-worked, and of being 
over-bitten by the musquitoes. They are dreadful: 
still there is something in the cleanliness and solidity 
of the house, and in its space, that looks very attractive 
after the tents and boats. It is lucky we have had 
that march as a set-off, otherwise the change from 
Simla would be too shocking. 

Do not you remember the story my father used to 
tell us, when we were children, of how his friend the 
old Duke of Marlborough went to dine with a neigh- 
bour, a poor clergyman, whose house was small, whose 
fires were low, and whose dinner was bad, and when 
the Duke drove back to Blenheim and entered that 
magnificent hall, he said with a plaintive sigh, i Well ! 
home is home, be it never so homely.' So say I, on 
coming back to this grand palace, from those wretched 
tents, and so shall I repeat with still greater unction 
when we arrive at our dear little villa at Kensington 
Gore. If it should please God that we ever do so, 
mind that you and your girls are on the lawn to 
greet us. 



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